City of Tshwane Executive Mayor Nasiphi Moya has identified entering into a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) as her biggest regret.
Moya made the remarks as she reflected on her time in office, with the 4 November local government elections fast approaching.
The coalition between the DA and ActionSA lasted only three years before a new coalition was formed, with the African National Congress (ANC) as the leading party.
The outgoing administration held an end-of-term media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, where Moya said she would still choose the same team if given another opportunity. The current coalition also includes the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and several smaller parties.
“My biggest regret is getting into a coalition with the DA because, in 2021, as a party, I was in charge of coalition management for ActionSA. We entered into coalitions in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane.
“In Ekurhuleni, we had to opt out very quickly because our reputation was going down because of the mayor they had there. In Johannesburg, they made it impossible for that coalition to succeed until it collapsed.
“In Tshwane, we endured a lot of torture. Oh! If you were to look at it, part of the coalition agreement – which, by the way, this coalition survived without – it just shows you that you can have the best coalition agreement on paper, but if you don’t have people who mean well for residents, that coalition agreement means nothing.
“We escalated so many issues, including the issue of Hamas.
“We escalated the issue of relocating people affected by the Mamelodi floods, which MMC Maluleka had committed to addressing. There were so many issues that we, as ActionSA, escalated, asking the DA to attend to one community or another.
“When we eventually said we couldn’t take it any more, our president called it an abuse,” Moya said, referring to her former coalition partners.
She accused the DA of setting ActionSA councillors up for failure.
“Every time I had to table a report to the Senate and say, ‘No, it has not been done’, I would ask, ‘What is so difficult?’ I would look at the list of issues we had escalated and the work that should naturally have been done by these colleagues, but there was nothing difficult about it,” she said.
Ahead of Monday’s briefing, the DA had criticised Moya’s “5 More Years” campaign slogan, accusing her of selectively highlighting events from the five years since 2021 to associate herself with achievements while distancing herself from failures.
“What was so difficult? It’s a party that doesn’t know how to work in a coalition with others. That is my biggest regret, and that is the part of the responsibility I am prepared to take for that coalition,” she said.