By Doreen Mokgolo
The fight to remove the mayor of Ekurhuleni, Sivuyile Ngodwana of the African Independent Congress, is not over and the ANC is using the opportunity to spit on its troubled marriage with the EFF.
The ANC has joined forces with ActionSA, the DA and other smaller parties to remove the mayor, who is described as a puppet of the EFF.
Looking back to March last year when Ngodwana was elected, it was evident that there were cracks in the ANC and EFF union from the beginning.
The EFF took all the key MMC positions including finance, infrastructure services, water, sanitation and energy, environment and waste management, leaving the ANC with the crumbs.
Since then the two parties have been frustrating each other by holding back services and funds to disable the other from delivering on their mandate.
Last Thursday night, EFF councillors physically attacked councillors from other parties in an attempt to prevent the council from voting out the mayor in a motion of no confidence.
However, 193 non-EFF councillors in the 224-seat body signed a petition to force the council speaker, Nthabiseng Tshivhenga, to reconvene a meeting by Thursday.
The chief whip of the Ekurhuleni council, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, said with 70% of the metro’s wards under the ANC, governance failures and the inevitable lack of sustainable provision of services will affect many people.
“We implore the speaker to ensure the resumption of the council meeting. If not, councillors will use available provisions to compel the speaker to convene the sitting,” he said.
ActionSA chief whip Siyanda Makhubo said if the speaker fails to reconvene the sitting they will call on the city manager, Imogen Mashazi, to facilitate the meeting.
EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga said the motion is aimed at destabilising and undermining the governance of the EFF in the metro.
“We are opposing the amendment proposed by the ANC … as it is a substantive amendment and in conflict with council standing orders,” he said.
Pictured above: Nkululeko Dunga, the chairperson of the EFF in Gauteng.
Image source: Doreen Mokgolo
