Mashaba denies tension between ActionSA and ANC over mayoral position in Tshwane

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba on Monday said negotiations for a new governing coalition in the City of Tshwane are continuing between his party and the ANC.

This comes after reports that the two parties were at loggerheads over the mayoral position in the City of Tshwane.

In an interview with The Citizen, Mashaba said negotiations are at a sensitive stage.

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New coalition in Tshwane

He, however, said there is “no tension” between the two parties.  

“This is a matter between ActionSA and the ANC to resolve,” he said.

“We want to stabilise the City of Tshwane and we will inform you as soon as we put together a mayoral committee,” Mashaba said.

Some reports suggested that ActionSA had endorsed the current deputy mayor of Tshwane, Nasiphi Moya, to take the mayoral position. Moya is an ActionSA member.

But last week the ANC described this as “wishful” thinking.

Mashaba said he believed that his party’s decision to leave the coalition in Tshwane will be beneficial to the growth of the party.

“We were not made by the DA. The harder they try to destroy us, the stronger we become,” he said.

The Tshwane municipal council has less then two weeks to elect another mayor.

Efforts to re-elect Cilliers Brink

Meanwhile in a statement on Monday, DA leader John Steenhuisen said his party would do its best to ensure that ousted mayor Cilliers Brink and his committee return to their positions.

“We undertake to leave no stone unturned to return them to office in Tshwane,” he said.

Last week DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said the party would seek the ANC’s support for Brink’s re-election.

Ironically, Brink was removed through a motion of no confidence submitted by the ANC.

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Msimanga confirmed that the negotiations for the governance of the City of Tshwane had been escalated to the DA and ANC national offices.

He said the principles that govern the government of national unity (GNU) were supposed to filter through to provinces and local government.

The DA had proposed a stability pact to the ANC to ensure that municipalities are stable until the next local government elections.

The DA had accused the ANC in Gauteng of being rebellious and disrespecting the relationship of the DA and the ANC in the GNU.

In a statement over the weekend, the ANC accused DA leaders of trying to sow divisions in the party.

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