Mzwandile Masina. (Photo: Rosetta Msimango/City Press)
- Ekurhuleni ANC regional leader Mzwandile Masina will be charged with discrediting the ANC for challenging provincial ANC leaders regarding the province’s political coalition strategy.
- Talks between the ANC and EFF collapsed this week after ANC Ekurhuleni councilors were unwilling to vote for an EFF candidate for mayor.
- The city is now back under the control of a DA-led multi-party government after the EFF helped support the return of Tania Campbell as mayor.
The ANC in Gauteng believes that its regional Ekurhuleni leader, Mzwandile Masina, should face disciplinary action for meddling in and compromising coalition talks with the EFF.
On Thursday, the party said its provincial executive committee (PEC) believed the region had acted in a way that compromised its position in negotiations with the EFF.
Masina had compromised the provincial leadership when she led the charge by introducing a confidence motion in Mayor Tania Campbell in October.
The move was said to have upset ANC Gauteng leaders, who have warned the region to withdraw the motion.
Concerns about the premature filing of the motion centered on unresolved coalition talks between the EFF and the provincial ANC.
Despite the warnings, the Ekurhuleni leadership went ahead with the motion and managed to remove Campbell from office with the help of a minority bloc of political parties on the council.
READ | Arrogance and dictatorship: Why did the EFF and ANC marriage fail in Ekurhuleni?
A race was then launched to seal a deal with the EFF.
The provincial leadership of the ANC, headed by President Panyaza Lesufi and Provincial Secretary TK Nciza, held talks with the national leadership of the EFF.
Talks collapsed when the ANC Ekurhuleni regional caucus refused to vote in support of EFF mayoral candidate Nkululeko Dunga.
Masina said that the region could not accept to give away the executive when he had the most important representations in the metro districts.
Campbell was re-elected mayor with the support of the EFF councilors as a punishment to the ANC.
At a post-PEC press conference on Thursday, Nciza said they strongly believed the region had challenged the province.
Masina would be disciplined for this action, while members of the region would also receive a reprimand at political meetings scheduled for next week, it added.
“The PEC has made the decision that action should be taken against the president of the region for discrediting the ANC, and the provincial working committee [PWC] has been mandated to deal with the matter urgently.
“On November 15, the PWC will visit all the ANC structures in Ekurhuleni and their structures,” Nciza said.
READ | After Ekurhuleni, EFF will vote in defense of DA against ANC leadership in Joburg
He added that ANC members in Ekurhuleni could not act as if the party had won the election, saying that if the region was worried about service delivery, then Campbell would not be mayor again.
Nciza warned that the coalition trip for the ANC would require a compromise, and the arrogance of unwillingness to vote with other political parties was not justified.
“The ANC does not do freestyling because they are very dangerous. PEC members even accused us of consulting excessively.
“We consulted all our structures, but we understood that it was something different. The reality is that we never won elections and we have nothing. The conference ordered us to recover lost ground. We will continue participating.” with other parts.
“If the motion in Ekurhuleni was made due to non-provision of services, then why did Tania come back? Because it was made for that purpose. Why should other parties vote for us and we don’t vote for them? What has revolutionary what? Nciza said.
READ | ANC Ekurhuleni insists on its own candidate in the mayoral election race
In an interview with Newzroom on Thursday, EFF leader Julius Malema said that if the ANC was interested in reviving coalition talks for Johannesburg, the party should vote for an EFF mayoral candidate in Ekurhuleni.
“But [if] the ANC wants to go back to the EFF, they will have to do one thing and one thing only: they have to go and put the [EFF in the position] mayor of Ekurhuleni…then we can talk”.
Malema said the EFF would help protect the district attorney on no-confidence motions until the ANC stopped being rogue.
