Negotiations continue over Cilliers Brink’s future as Tshwane mayor

The African National Congress (ANC) is expected to hold a high-level meeting on Wednesday afternoon over the motion of no confidence against Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink.

Brink will face a motion of no confidence vote against him in council on Thursday.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been trying to save Brink from being defeated by the motion.

DA proposal to save Brink

Chairperson of the DA in Gauteng Fred Nel told The Citizen that he was awaiting a response from the ANC’s meeting on a proposal that the DA had placed before the ANC.

ALSO READ: DA says everyone backing ANC’s motion to oust Brink will be aiding graft

The proposal would ensure the stability of all municipalities in Gauteng until the next local government elections.

It will also see a level of cooperation between the DA and the ANC to ensure there are no frivolous motions of confidence submissions until the next elections.

“It seems like they are still sorting themselves out internally. We know that there is a meeting this afternoon between the ANC secretary general and their Gauteng leadership. We expect some feedback after that,” he said.

ANC-ActionSA relations

Nel said the DA would not rely on ActionSA to defend Brink from the motion, despite ActionSA being part of the Tshwane mayoral committee.

“ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has made it clear with his rants on social media that he does not want to work with us,” Nel said.

Nel said the DA would not have a problem returning to the opposition benches.

“If that is the role that we have to take up, we will take it up,” he said.

ALSO READ: Tshwane petition gets behind mayor Brink

Mashaba said his councilors would abstain from the vote on Brink.

“ActionSA is not going to defend Cilliers Brink, we are out of this coalition,” he said.

Mashaba also said he was trying to convince the ANC to form a government in Tshwane.

It was still not clear what kind of arrangement the ANC would go into with ActionSA, but their coalition in Johannesburg has ActionSA holding the Speaker of Council position and the ANC the mayoral office.

There have been unconfirmed rumours that ActionSA will be given the mayoral position should its deal with the ANC work out.