Durban — The ANC is said to be on the verge of losing power to the opposition in the eThekwini Municipality after its marriage with smaller parties hit a new low.
The smaller parties bloc, now under the leadership of National Freedom Party councillor Zandile Myeni after dumping Abantu Batho Congress Philani Mavundla as chairperson, is to hold a crucial meeting on Tuesday.
This is where a final decision on whether to formally cut ties with Mavundla and withdraw from the coalition is expected to be made.
According to insiders, the final straw was when the ANC refused to give the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) chairperson position to them, as agreed in the coalition talks which paved the way for the ANC to retain power in eThekwini.
The Daily News also learned that in the meeting held by the bloc earlier in the week, they directed Myeni to file for a motion of no confidence in the entire eThekwini leadership, including Mavundla as deputy mayor.
Although Myeni played down the matter, saying they had not yet taken a decision to withdraw and file a motion of no confidence, she said she would be able to respond properly about the matter after Tuesday’s meeting. She said the meeting would assess Mavundla’s role as deputy mayor and whether small parties had benefited from the coalition.
Myeni said she would be able to provide an answer after Tuesday’s meeting.
“Our meeting will make an assessment on whether our demands as agreed upon when the coalition was formed have been met. Our meeting on Tuesday would focus on restructuring the coalition," said Myeni.
Although Myeni poured cold water on the collapse of the coalition with the ANC, African Democratic Change leader Visvin Reddy, whose party is a member of the bloc, told the Daily News on Thursday that their relationship with the ANC had almost collapsed.
Reddy said their agreement to help the ANC retain power came at a great cost to their parties. He said he was forwarded by the bloc to take the MPAC position, but turned down the offer.
He added that as small parties they have not benefited, except for Mavundla, who became deputy mayor.
The MPAC chairperson was to be elected in a full council meeting on Thursday, but the matter was postponed till a later date.
According to the ANC eThekwini secretary, Musa Nciki, the election of MPAC chair was postponed due to the fact that the meeting was virtual and for parties to further engage.
Nciki said smaller parties would not be getting the MPAC chairperson’s position since they were not represented in the committee.
He said the ANC would not remove its member in the committee to make way for a councillor from the smaller parties to take the seat.
In terms of the policy, the councillor must be a member of the committee to be eligible for the position, but none of the smaller parties which formed a coalition with ANC have a seat on the committee.
In the 11- member committee only the ANC, DA, IFP, EFF and ActionSA were represented and all of them are not working with the ANC.
Giving the smaller parties the deputy mayor's position and the MPAC position had been part of the coalition agreement.
The smaller parties’ argument was that the ANC sacrificed its member in the executive committee (Exco) to accommodate Mavundla, but it could not do so in the MPAC.
Nciki said that as much as they respected the coalition, they would not be abused by smaller parties, adding that his party still wanted the position to go to the opposition parties, but they had to be on the committee.
Mavundla said that it would be better to allow the smaller parties bloc to have the final say on the matter.
Daily News