EFF to contest for Tshwane mayorship

Tshwane could soon be run by the EFF since the DA-led multiparty coalition has lost support from its former red-beret allies.

Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday, EFF leader Julius Malema said his party was going to contest for mayorship.

This after Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa announced his intention to resign from his seat at the ordinary council meeting at the end of the month.

The EFF and ANC had for the past few months targeted Mokgalapa and Speaker Katlego Mathebe when they petitioned for a special council meeting to remove the two in no-confidence motions.

The special council sitting, which was held on 16 January, collapsed after the two parties staged a walk out in protest of Mathebe’s refusal to convene the meeting according to their proposed agenda.

The ANC announced last week that they would request a continuation of the council meeting for 19 February to vote in the no-confidence motions, despite Mokgalapa’s resignation. Malema said his party was now in talks with the ANC.

“We want Tshwane. We are going to contest Tshwane and we are going to be leadership of Tshwane. It is our municipality. We are the mayor. Otherwise, we are not voting with anyone. If you don’t give us the mayor[ship], then leave it.”

The ANC and EFF had joined forces in Johannesburg last year to vote in ANC mayor Geoff Makhubo after the resignation of DA’s Herman Mashaba.

But that was so that the ANC could vote with the EFF in Tshwane, Malema explained.

“We said in Johannesburg – let us vote together and vote with us in Tshwane … We gave ANC a simple thing – where you take the executive, we take the legislature to hold you accountable. Where we hold executive, you take legislature to hold us accountable.”

Mokgalapa announced his intention to resign after his party instituted an investigation into his conduct following a leaked audio tape where the mayor could be heard gossiping about DA members with his former MMC of transport, Sheila Lynn Senkubuge. The two were allegedly also heard having sex.

The mayor however said his resignation was not an admission of guilt, but to ensure service delivery as the saga surrounding him was politicised and dragged down the Tshwane administration.

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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