Herman Mashaba said his party had accepted working with the ANC, a shift from its earlier stance, so that it could hold the organisation accountable.
(Photo by Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
ActionSA is gunning for the powerful speaker positions in Gauteng municipalities following its agreement with the ANC to work together in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
Party leader Herman Mashaba told a media briefing on Monday that ActionSA would form a working relationship with the ANC in the two metros and would reconsider its relationship with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane.
On Friday, the Mail & Guardian reported that Kabelo Gwamanda would resign as Johannesburg executive mayor to allow the ANC’s regional chair, Dada Morero, to be elected to the post after an agreement between the party and ActionSA to co-govern the metro.
It is understood that speaker Margaret Arnolds will also vacate her position and will be given a position in Morero’s executive committee, while Gwamanda will become a member of the mayoral committee.
During Monday’s briefing, Mashaba confirmed that the two parties had agreed that ActionSA would take the speaker position and that Gwamanda should vacate his position to allow for any mayoral candidate from the ANC, possibly Morero because he is the regional chair.
“It’s the current mayor that we do not want, this job is way beyond his capacity. We are not going to dictate who the ANC must put forward. The only thing we said to the ANC is that please give us someone who can serve the residents of Johannesburg,” Mashaba said.
He said the ANC has also committed to ensuring that the changes happen next week, adding that he was confident there would be no need for a motion of no confidence against Gwamanda and Arnolds because they are expected to resign.
“Early next week the city manager will call a special council for the election of a speaker and the mayor,’ he said.
Mashaba said his party had accepted working with the ANC, a shift from its earlier stance, so that it could hold the organisation accountable.
“Not just holding them accountable without having the powers. Having the speaker and guarding the legislature in these municipalities with the number we have got, it gives us the power to be able to deal with this issue and not just make noise as the opposition,” he said.
“You can imagine that when we run as a speaker, no report will come through council without our approval and no one is going to hide corruption from society.”
He said corruption in the country had reached unacceptable and unprecedented levels and ActionSA was looking for the speaker position to unearth the corruption. Parties working with his would not be comfortable with this, he added.
“If they do not feel comfortable with this then then they must not give us these positions because we want to use these positions to hold them accountable,” he said.
Mashaba said ActionSA would support anything that the ANC brought to the council only if it would advance the interest of the people. The party has committed to backing the R2.5 billion Agence Française de Développement loan, which is to be repaid in 15 years and is intended to fund capital expenditure projects.
“We committed that we are going to support their loan because their loan was part of the budget,” said Mashaba, who has however asked that the ANC scrap or stop the implementation of a contentious R200 electricity surcharge as a condition for working with the party in Johannesburg.
Mashaba has had a change of heart with regard to working with the ANC, having previously vowed that he would resign as leader if ActionSA was to work with that party.
He told Monday’s briefing that the ANC was not the only corrupt party in the country.
“I do not understand why, when we talk about corruption in South Africa, we only talk about the ANC. Yes the ANC could be the most, but the others are protected. It is not only the ANC. We are dealing with the DA in Tshwane. There are serious issues we have with the DA in Tshwane and we are working with them,” he said.
Mashaba said he had told ActionSA’s senate, its highest decision-making body, that he could also not guarantee that the ANC’s deployees would not be corrupt, saying they would have to ensure that they appointed ethical leaders.
“We can not guarantee the ANC will behave and we can not guarantee that people of ActionSA are not going to be involved in corruption,” he said.
The only guarantee ActionSA would make was that if any party member was involved in corruption and there was evidence, that person “will be out”, Mashaba added.
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