ANC to march on Friday against DA-led coalition in Tshwane, wants to reclaim power

The African National Congress (ANC) says it wants to reclaim power in the City of Tshwane from the Democratic Alliance-led (DA) multiparty coalition.

City of Tshwane

The ANC on Wednesday accused the DA of plunging the Capital City into crisis since taking over governance of Tshwane in 2016 with its coalition partners.

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ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the metro under the DA was characterised by instability, corruption, maladministration and the collapse of service delivery.

“The DA over the last seven years has been unapologetic in its segregated treatment of citizens based on class and race. It is precisely this conduct that has sown seeds of discord and mistrust in the successive DA-led coalitions in the City of Tshwane,” said Mbalula.

He was speaking at a media briefing in Mamelodi, northeast of Tshwane, where the ANC launched what it called ‘the people’s march’.

The march is expected to take place on Friday, and is aimed at highlighting service delivery challenges in the City of Tshwane under the DA-led coalition.  

“This march is a lunch of a protracted campaign to reclaim Tshwane back, working with our people,” said Mbalula.

DA-led coalitions

Mbalula said the DA-led coalitions were not grounded on principle, but rather on populism and stubborn ideal to preserve the status quo in the City at all costs.

He said the DA’s three mayors who led Tshwane – Solly Msimanga, Stevens Mokgalapa and Randall Williams – all focused on the affluent areas of the metro and neglected townships, where the majority of black people live.

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“The DA in Tshwane over the past seven years has focused on producing scandals and paid scant regard to service delivery outcomes. This is the reason the ANC, its alliance partners and civil society will lead the #BuyaTshwane people’s march.

“As the ANC, we believe that it is no small feat when the Capital City of our country struggles to achieve stability. The people of Tshwane deserve better.”

Political instability

Mbalula denied that the ANC was behind the political instability in the City of Tshwane.

He said the party had long accepted that it did not achieve an outright majority during the 2016 and 2021 local government elections to govern the metro.

“The DA came into power through a coalition. In the last election we lost to DA, we didn’t win power.

“There is no reason for the ANC to fight for who becomes the mayor in Tshwane. We didn’t win power. The power belongs to those who have won,” he said.

The City of Tshwane is currently without an executive mayor after the DA’s Randall Williams resigned from office in February.

This came after the Office of the Auditor General (AG) tabled a damning report into the metro’s finances, confirming over R10 billion in irregular expenditure.

READ: Auditor-general flags ‘serious irregularities’ in City of Tshwane’s finances

Since then, the DA-led coalition fielded its councillor Cilliers Brink as their mayoral candidate. However, Brink lost the election to former Congress of the People (Cope) councillor Murunwa Makwarela during a council sitting on 28 February.

Makwarela, who was the speaker of council under the DA-led coalition, resigned as mayor on 10 March after it emerged that he forged his insolvency rehabilitation certificate.

This week, African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor Mncedi Ndzwanana was elected council speaker.

This after the votes cast by 69 DA councillors in the election were disqualified after the Independent Electoral Commission declared them spoilt ballots.

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