Gauteng ANC came out in numbers yesterday to give Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina support during a failed motion of confidence against him brought by the DA.

The ANC members were led by the provincial chairperson and premier David Makhura in their support of Masina.

Masina survived the motion through the help of the IFP which abstained from the voting and the EFF which did not support the motion.

The Fighters argued that the motion was baseless.

"Comrades, we want to send a very strong message to the DA: They are not going to govern through taking chances. What happened in council today is that they lost the motion because as described by the chief whip of council, it was frivolous," said Masina outside the Ekurhuleni council chambers in Germiston.

This follows the DA bringing the motion before the Ekurhuleni council yesterday after they accused Masina of poor service delivery and failure to investigate possible corruption.

The mayor said although the ANC was governing in the metro, it was not a walk in the park.

"The coalition governments are very much difficult to manage." He said infighting "amongst us as comrades", had cost the ANC votes, resulting in the party needing a coalition to govern.

He pleaded with the ANC members to ensure that Makhura and President Cyril Ramaphosa emerged victorious in next year's provincial and national elections respectively.

The mayor told hundreds of supporters outside the council chambers that come next year's general elections, they should make sure that the oarty avoids a repeat of a coalition government in order to improve service delivery.

"In 2019, we must make sure that premier Makhura and president Ramaphosa don't experience the hardship that we are experiencing here of a coalition government," Masina said.

In the 2016 local government elections, the ANC in Ekurhuleni dropped below 50%, winning 109 out of 224 seats in the metro which resulted in Masina having to convince opposition parties in council to govern through a coalition.

Ekurhuleni is the only metro out of three that the ANC governs in Gauteng.

EFF chairperson in Ekurhuleni Nkululeko Dunga, said a plan to unseat Masina was imminent from the party.

"In the future, you might find a possible substantive motion tabled by the EFF, one that will engage other political organisations, unlike the one of the DA where they just want to come into caucus and bulldoze a view thinking we might accept," said Dunga.

Makhura said the DA should have tabled a motion of no confidence in Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga who he alleges has failed to attend to service delivery needs.

"City of Tshwane has rolled back service delivery. It is worse than when the ANC was governing Tshwane," alleged Makhura.

Msimanga responded through a statement and accused the premier of misleading ANC members as the ANC-led Merofong, Emfuleni and Rand West municipalities were performing badly, to a point where the Emfuleni had to be put under administration due to "corruption and maladministration".