Stalled negotiations between the ANC and the EFF forced a postponement of the council sitting to elect a new Ekurhuleni mayor on Wednesday afternoon.

The meeting adjourned without choosing a mayor after the removal of the DA’s Tania Campbell last week.

As the council sat, national and provincial leaders of the EFF and ANC were locked in meetings to iron out details of how councillors from both parties would vote in the election of a new mayor.

TimesLIVE understands that leaders from both parties had initially agreed to install the EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga in an agreement that would have seen the red berets co-governing with the ANC.

This was confirmed by the withdrawal of ANC Ekurhuleni regional chair Mzwandile Masina from the mayoral race.

Masina told TimesLIVE on the sidelines of the council sitting and while negotiations still ensued,  he was pulling out of the race and that he had had his stint in the mayoral office.

“No, unfortunately, I’ve served my five-year term. When I attempted a second term I was defeated, so it’s time to focus on other issues in the movement,” Masina said.

The agreement had stipulated that the EFF, which has 31 seats in the metro, would get the mayorship and at least three MMC positions while the ANC got speaker, council whip and most of the MMC positions.

TimesLIVE, however, understands that by lunch the meeting had taken a strange turn when the EFF reneged on the agreement, telling the ANC that they did not want to co-govern.

The EFF, led by deputy president Floyd Shivambu, is said to have told ANC provincial leaders including chair and premier Panyaza Lesufi and secretary TK Nciza that they wanted to govern the metro by themselves.

In return, the EFF would ensure ANC was installed in Johannesburg while further negotiations would ensue in Tshwane.

This was the same proposal the EFF had placed before the DA after last year’s local government elections. The EFF had at the time told DA that it would support its mayors in both Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni in return for DA support to govern Tshwane.

This was rejected by the DA. The ANC at the time could also not agree to the same proposal with its national executive committee vehemently rejecting the proposal. Instead the EFF then took a decision to vote with the DA despite them turning down their proposal.

The meeting on Wednesday became deadlocked when the ANC rejected the EFF’s proposal with both parties agreeing that the council sitting should be postponed to give them time to iron out their issues.

Speaker Raymond Dhlamini said he will schedule a new council sitting to elect a mayor within seven days.

The ANC-EFF bloc, which also has the support of seven minority parties, has more than 130 votes, while the DA-led coalition has 93 councillors in the city. 

The implications of the two parties not reaching an agreement in Ekurhuleni could spill over to Johannesburg where the ANC is expecting to again install Dada Morero as mayor with the help of the EFF.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.