Incumbent Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink, who is facing the chop as a result of a planned ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence against him, has expressed confidence that he will remain in his position against all odds.
Brink was addressing the media at Tshwane House yesterday regarding strides made by his administration since he assumed office in March last year, including recent political developments impacting on Tshwane’s coalition bloc.
He was speaking ahead of the much-anticipated September 26 ordinary council sitting at which the ANC is expected to oust him through the motion likely to be supported by ActionSA and the EFF.
His position at the helm of the municipality became at risk following ActionSA’s recent announcement to break away from the coalition pact with the DA, FF Plus, African Christian Democratic Party and the IFP.
Asked if he would continue to be part of the Tshwane council as a PR councillor should he be removed from office, Brink said: “I intend to stay on as the mayor; that’s what I intend to do. My commitment is to the City. I left a perfect and comfortable seat in Parliament for the risk of leading a coalition which at that stage had very serious policy disputes. I live in the City; my family live here; I love the City and my commitment is to the City.”
He said he was “determined to continue serving the people of Tshwane, not as the leader of the opposition but as the executive mayor”.
This was despite having suggested that he was likely to be removed by saying earlier that he was “not going to pretend that I don’t know what the results” of the ANC motion would be.
Brink said his first priority was to maintain the progress made by his administration, saying he won’t entertain any other prospects beyond that.
He slammed ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba for having a go at the multiparty coalition by publicly criticising its work on social media platforms.
According to him, Mashaba’s announcements, which include getting rid of a DA mayor in Tshwane, were “immature, irresponsible and deceitful”.
“I do think Mr Mashaba acted prematurely in announcing, in his words, to bring down the DA mayor. It is not the DA mayor; it is the coalition government. Without having any clear and set plan for the future. I think this is a degree of political incompetence. It is also irresponsible,” he said.
He shot down suggestions that the DA had previously approached the ANC “with the intention to bring this coalition to a fall”.
In the same breath, he said he was aware that the DA national leadership has reached out to their ANC counterparts “in an attempt to see if some kind of stability cannot be reached”.
Brink, however, said he was never involved in those negotiations, emphasising that the mutual intention was to preserve the current coalition government.
“But, we are yet to see the outcomes of what those talks are,” he said.
He cited some of the achievements made by his administration, saying they included working with the national government to make a credible plan for Hammanskraal residents to get water in their taps in the next few months.
“The officials responsible for awarding the Rooiwal refurbishment contract to a consortium linked to Edwin Sodi are on suspension and the City is in the Labour Court to have them dismissed,” he said.
Pretoria News