The ANC could soon reclaim control of the City of Tshwane which it lost in the 2016 local government elections and again in 2021.
This is if the party’s Gauteng provincial leadership has its way. The party held a weekend Provincial Executive Committee Lekgotla in Ekurhuleni and briefed the media at its Johannesburg office on Monday where provincial chairperson and Premier Panyaza Lesufi indicated the ANC now had agreements with enough parties to can topple DA-led coalition government of the City of Tshwane if it so wished.
Lesufi said the PEC has already began consultations with the national leadership of the ANC to ensure that moves towards reclaiming the capital do not compromise the stability of the Government of National Unity which the party leads alongside the DA and others.
“We have almost all the parties on our side and that is why we were able to regain control of Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg where our mayoral candidates where voted for overwhelmingly. In fact our mayor in Johannesburg was going to be elected even without the support of Action SA but we are glad they came on board along with other parties who supported us,” said Lesufi.
He said the PEC was not in a rush to take over and would await for the completion of the consultation with the national leadership before making a move.
“There’s parties that came to us and said let’s collapse their government because most of these parties want the ANC to lead but we are not obsessed. Well we are obsessed with getting services to the people of Tshwane because this is about the people but we want to do things right and get everyone on board,” said Lesufi.
Provincial Secretary TK Nciza took the opportunity to dispel perceptions that the PEC had taken in defiance of the national leadership which has opted for a GNU that includes right wing groupings as opposed to a minority government and or coalition with the so-called ‘ like-minded parties’ ( the likes of EFF and MKP).
“There’s a narrative that Gauteng is somehow defiant of national leadership. I think we need to correct that because all decisions that we have taken including the formation of a government of provincial unity was supported and continues to be supported by the national government. So there are no contradictions at all and I think we should make that clear,” said Nciza.
