EFF leader Julius Malema has welcomed the decision taken by Gauteng provincial government to place the City of Tshwane under administration, saying a new mandate is needed from the electorate.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Black Business Council summit in Midrand, Malema said coalition in Tshwane had failed to work, therefore a new mandate will have to come from the electorate.

“We welcome the move because we could not find each other. Perhaps the electorate will be given an opportunity to choose the government of their choice. Sometimes we find ourselves in these situations which is not of our own making. It has been made by the electorate itself. We hope that when we come back from elections there will be a proper government which will receive a proper mandate from the people of Tshwane,” Malema said.

Malema said parties that had governed Tshwane over the years, including the ANC, had failed to deliver clean water to the people of Hammanskraal.

“When we wanted to govern, we said the priority will be to build a water reticulation plant in Hammanskraal and make sure that the water is clean for the people. We said we will clean Tshwane as it is dirty, as if it is not a capital city. We wanted to clean even the townships in Tshwane, but the ANC did not give us that opportunity,” he said.

Gauteng premier David Makhura announced on Thursday that the Tshwane metropolitan would be placed under administration.

Makhura said that the province had taken a decision tomdissolve the municipality’s council that had been continuously failed to pass budgets, elect mayor, supply water, pay its creditors, among other issues.

About six council sittings all ended in chaos with councilors walking out. Without council sitting the city is unable to properly deliver even basic services as no contracts can be signed or any kind of action taken without council approval.

Makhura said the municipality had been “substantially failing” to comply with the directives issued by the province to end the political instability and deliver services.

“Accordingly, the Gauteng executive council met on Wednesday afternoon to assess the developments in the city of Tshwane and decided to invoke section 139(1)(c) of the constitution,” Makhura said. “This means that the Tshwane Municipal Council is dissolved and an administrator will be appointed to run the municipality until a new council is elected within 90 days,” he said.