ANC, EFF clash over state of Ekurhuleni municipality

Divisions between the ANC and EFF in the Ekurhuleni coalition have been laid bare after the ANC accused the red berets of making “unfounded statements” about the state of the municipality.

On Tuesday, the ANC caucus in Ekurhuleni issued a veiled warning to the EFF, saying its MMCs should not undermine the functions of their colleagues and interfere with their portfolios.

The party also called on mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana to become the centre of power in the municipality and that his MMCs must not enter into a competition with him.

“We call upon the executive mayor to firmly take charge of the executive work, including the conduct of members of the mayoral committee. The sooner, the better, otherwise the mayoral committee will be a loose cannon,” said ANC Ekurhuleni chief whip, councillor Jongizizwe Dlabathi. 

The statement comes after the EFF Gauteng chair and Ekurhuleni’s finance MMC Nkululeko Dunga last week told a media briefing that the city’s record showed there were 103 waste removal trucks, however, only 32 could be accounted for.

Dunga added that Ekurhuleni had failed to pay invoices valued at over R200m. He said this had serious implications on the ability of the city to deliver services. Dunga’s statement was amplified by a tweet from EFF leader Julius Malema, who said: “Since the EFF occupied the office of the MMC for waste management, we can only confirm the existence [of] 32 trucks, meaning these thieves before us have stolen 71 trucks of the city.

“We call on the people of Ekurhuleni to alert the EFF and SA Police Service wherever you see a waste collection truck, the possibility is that it is stolen!”

However, the ANC on Tuesday said it is worried about the manner in which some of the issues are being raised and handled in the public domain, with a potential of undermining the standing of the municipality.

“Parties that are holding executive responsibilities in the mayoral committee should appreciation the available internal means of seeking accountability, information and clarity, in order to reflect accurately and to proposed justifiable interventions.

“Political oversight on departments as well as various related matters must be exercised with due care, objectively and that we must not be irresponsible,” said Dlabathi

“All parties to the collaborative governance arrangement carry the responsibility of preserving the integrity of the institution while addressing service delivery deficiencies.

“Operational deficiencies must be properly comprehended and articulated by leaders of political parties in Council, especially by the deployed MMCs, who by the way enjoy the privilege of obtaining information about the accurate state of their respective portfolios.

“There is a remnant of wanting to create a super group within the mayoral committee, to the extent of wanting to depart from the municipal programme as tabled by the state of the city address. We hold a strong view that such a tendency will create incoherence on our approach to the work of local governance.”

This is not the first time the ANC and the EFF have appeared to be at loggerheads over cooperation on the governance of the municipality. In November, DA councilor Tania Campbell, who had been ousted as the mayor via a motion of no confidence, was re-elected Ekurhuleni mayor after talks between the EFF and ANC collapsed.

Last month, the members of the Ekurhuleni mayoral committee were sworn in ANC’s absence. Five MMCs are EFF’s councilors while the remaining position belonged to ANC deployees.

Dlabathi said: “Furthermore, members of the executive must desist from tempering with the separation of powers, particularly the role of administration versus their role of providing political leadership.”