ANC ‘not ruling out working with EFF’ in motion against Mashaba

The ANC’s motion of no confidence against Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba is about saving the City, the party’s regional chairperson, Geoff Makhuba, said on Friday.

The party confirmed it would table a motion of no confidence against Mashaba on August 22, the same day he was elected into power.

“The change introduced by the DA-led administration has resulted in mismanagement, maladministration and poor service delivery under the watch of councillor Mashaba. It is on this basis of these reasons and many more, which can be provided, that the ANC in Johannesburg has lost confidence him,” Makhuba said.

Under Mashaba, the ANC said, the City had accumulated irregular expenditure of R2.7 billion as a result of non-compliance and disregard for procurement processes.

“We are convinced that with the current leadership, the City will be unable to meet the January 2020 deadline to comply with provisions of the municipal standard chart of accounts and this will adversely affect the people of Johannesburg,” Makhuba added.

Reacting to the announcement, Mashaba said the motion by the ANC had nothing to do with the reasons it was advancing, but everything to do with resuming the rampant looting that characterised the ANC’s tenure in Johannesburg.

“Indeed, the ANC cannot fathom the prospect of contesting the upcoming election without access to City resources, which have been looted by corrupt means.”

Mashaba said under his administration, the City had received an unqualified audit for the 2017/18 financial year, with the Auditor-General noting an overall stagnation in the audit outcome.

“I look forward to meeting the ANC on the council floor on August 22, when the hypocrisy of its baseless allegations will be exposed, and the nefarious motives of its motion made clear,” he added.

Makhuba said the party would start negotiations with other smaller parties, adding it was not ruling out a partnership with the EFF.

As it stands, the ANC has 121 council seats and the DA 104. The EFF, which has maintained its kingmaker status in the City, has 30 seats.

The EFF and its leader, Julius Malema, have maintained their support for Mashaba despite a decision to abstain from voting with both the ANC and DA in all hung metros.

With the EFF’s support as well as their coalition partners, the IFP (5), ACDP (1), FF+ (1) and Cope (1), Mashaba seems safe with 142 votes in hand. The ANC’s current alliance partners – the AIC (4), Aljamah (1) and PA (1) – sees it standing at 127 votes.

“While the numbers are important to remove Mashaba, we must point out that for us the motion is more about saving the City from Mashaba than political point scoring. We believe Mashaba is destroying it and with each passing day the situation is getting worse,” said Makhuba.

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