Same fate as Joburg awaits DA in Tshwane, says expert

The people of Tshwane are the casualties in the City of Tshwane metro’s political wrangling and instability, with political analyst Lucky Mathebula saying it is the beginning of the end for the DA.

The DA mayor, Stevens Mokgalapa, resigned yesterday amid ongoing calls for his head.

Mathebula said the same fate that befell the DA in Johannesburg, which now has ANC mayor Geoff Makhubo at the helm after Herman Mashaba resigned, was inevitable in Tshwane.

Mathebula, a research associate at the Tshwane University of Technology, said the DA found itself with a hot potato in Mokgalapa, saying its undoing was the delay in getting rid of him.

“They could have got rid of Mokgalapa long ago considering their stance as a corruption-free party. “But again, had they removed him this would mean a new mayor would have to be elected by council and they do not have the numbers.

“On the other hand you have the EFF and the ANC, the parties with big numbers, working to remove the mayor,” he said.

Mathebula said the DA wanted to claim it got rid of Mokgalapa when, in fact, it was him who wanted out but the party leaders begged him to stay as this would have spelt the end of the DA in Tshwane.

Unlike the Joburg metro, where the EFF voted for its own candidate, the ANC-EFF alliance in Tshwane was strong because the ruling party’s leadership in the region were young people who were in Julius Malema’s ANC Youth League, he said.

The DA’s downfall was spelt out in the 2016 local government elections where the ANC failed to secure the proportional vote but won the majority of wards, meaning the DA had to depend on the ANC councillors to be able to deliver services in townships, Mathebula said.

He said the ANC councillors opposed the DA to such an extent that the municipality was unable to deliver services, resulting in people losing faith in the DA’s ability to deliver services.

“The casualties in this whole turn of events are the people of Tshwane… “This whole thing will collapse and usher in the big realignment of politics.

“It will also play in building momentum for Mmusi Maimane and Herman Mashaba’s political endeavours,” Mathebula said.

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