Not quite a year and a half into recovery, the Tshwane Metro is again on the brink of descending into chaos. In this interview, Tshwane’s executive mayor, Cilliers Brink, unpacks why this is happening. He says the national leaders of Action SA, specifically its founder/president Herman Mashaba, are imposing their will on the party’s members in the capital city. Action SA, with 19 seats, is currently in coalition with the DA (69), Freedom Front Plus (17) and a few smaller parties in the group governing the 214-member council. Taken to its logical conclusion, Mashaba’s decision to withdraw Action SA from a functional alliance will re-introduce an ANC/EFF “doomsday coalition”. He spoke to BizNews editor Alec Hogg.
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Edited transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Alec Hogg (00:02.573)
South Africa’s political scene has become rather interesting, to say the least, but not if you’re involved in the middle of it, as Cilliers Brink, who’s the executive mayor of Tshwane is. They’ve been trying to put together a rescue plan for a city that was in dire straits. It’s coming right, or so it seems, and now they have political ructions. We’ll find out from the mayor himself what is happening there. A little bit of the background and where we might be going in South Africa’s capital city.
Alec Hogg (00:48.6)
Thanks for joining us, Cilliers. We go back to November, 2021 in the local elections, 214 seats in the Tshwane council. The DA had 69, so it was the second biggest party after the ANC. You managed to put together a coalition, which gave you more than the 108 seats that were needed to be able to form a government. Just explain who your partners are there because it’s quite important to know why they came in and why there’s a possibility that at least one of them will be leaving.
Cilliers Brink (01:28.334)
So that’s what made Tshwane quite unique after the 2021 election: it was the one place where the DA and our coalition partners could actually form a majority. As you mentioned, 108, 109 seats. And why that is important is because at local government, you need the council to make certain key decisions. They aren’t delegated to the mayor or the mayoral committee, and that’s passing of a budget, appointment of senior officials, disciplining senior officials, raising long-term loans, and other consequential policy decisions.
Cilliers Brink (01:28.334)
So unlike in Joburg and Ekurhuleni, we actually had this majority and the parties are Democratic Alliance, Action SA, the Freedom Front, plus the ACDP, the IFP. We initially had COPE, they left, and we replaced them with a party called the Defenders of the People. And obviously, Alec, the coalition in Tshwane has gone through many things—there were disputes initially, there was an adverse audit. But in the past 17 months, since I have been here, I’ve resigned my seat in parliament and the DA nominated me as mayor. We’ve had remarkable stability. We’ve also made some good progress in improving the city’s financial position, improving the audit outcome, and getting a competent, non-political top management team in place under City Manager Johan Mettler.
Alec Hogg (03:52.226)
So it’s the founder of Action SA who’s now imposing his will on the party. Effectively, that’s what you’re saying?
Cilliers Brink (03:59.47)
Yes. Where it started was in early July, when Action SA announced that they had reached an agreement with the ANC in Johannesburg, where they would lend their support to replace the former mayor and get Dada Morero elected from the ANC as the mayor. And the purpose of that agreement, as far as I can tell from the ANC’s perspective, was to dilute the influence of the EFF.
Cilliers Brink (06:17.72)
… And during the course of August, ironically, Alec, after I had survived a motion of no confidence in July and the coalition had stood together, Action SA issued a statement saying this motion of no confidence was opportunistic, and we must reject it. They even referred to the successes of the coalition. But Herman Mashaba seems to have decided quite suddenly to withdraw Action SA from the coalition.
Alec Hogg (06:24.322)
So where are we right now, given that there was supposed to be a vote of no confidence last week that was withdrawn? Is there going to be another one tabled in the near future?
Cilliers Brink (06:37.966)
So we are in a terrible period of uncertainty. As we were approaching last month’s motion of no confidence, Herman was making statements in the media. I spoke to Nasipi Moya, the deputy mayor from Action SA, and she told me Action SA was now reviewing their position in the coalition. I reached out to Michael Beaumont, Action SA’s national chairperson, but there’s been no response. Meanwhile, the Freedom Front Plus, the ACDP, and the IFP are just as baffled as I am about Action SA’s behavior.
Alec Hogg (09:33.696)
Is there no way of getting around a table with Herman Mashaba, Michael Beaumont, and the Action SA leadership to find some common ground? Because as far as the ratepayers are concerned, they’re not going to be happy to see progress reversed due to personality clashes.
Cilliers Brink (10:19.502)
Absolutely, Alec. As soon as this threat emerged, I met with my party’s leadership and reached out to Beaumont. I tried contacting the local leaders, but the directive is coming from the top. Sadly, despite multiple attempts, I’ve had no response from Michael. Instead, Action SA has been attacking the performance of the coalition government, framing their exit, and justifying it by claiming the DA-run Tshwane has not performed well in the townships—something that’s hard to argue, given Action SA’s presence in the coalition since 2021.
Alec Hogg (12:31.672)
Chris, my colleague, interviewed Mashaba from New York yesterday. The headline is “I will not let the DA eliminate me.” So it does seem there’s a lot of emotion in this. Corné Mulder mentioned that everything changed after the election on the 29th of May. What’s your sense of Action SA and the Freedom Front feeling let down by the DA after the Moonshot Pact?
Cilliers Brink (13:33.878)
Action SA might feel that way, but the Freedom Front Plus leader is the current Minister of Correctional Services in the national unity government, so there’s no real tension between the DA and the FF Plus in Tshwane. The situation in the city is different from what’s happening at the national level. In Tshwane, we have a functional coalition with no disputes or personality clashes, and if Mashaba has grievances from elsewhere, I don’t think bringing down the Tshwane coalition is a rational or justifiable response.
Alec Hogg (16:41.368)
It’s an extraordinary time we’re going through. Corné Mulder said coalitions should last the entire governance period—until the next local elections in 2026. Are you in favour of that, and might it happen? The voters are the ones losing out as their coalition might fall apart.
Cilliers Brink (17:36.672)
Absolutely. If you have a coalition agreement, a majority in the council, and no unresolved disputes, you should honour that agreement. In Tshwane, we have a coalition agreement with a majority and a clear program of action. There’s no good reason to renege on that.
Alec Hogg (18:48.002)
So what happens now?
Cilliers Brink (18:52.258)
Action SA can still come back to us. They can respond to the messages and reaffirm their commitment to the coalition. But after so many contradictions, we’ll need more than just someone’s word. From the DA side, after Herman Mashaba’s statements, we’ve reached out to the ANC to explore some kind of stability arrangement to avoid a motion of no confidence in Tshwane. However, with Action SA loudly declaring that they want to work with the ANC and EFF, I don’t know how feasible that is anymore.
Alec Hogg (20:22.264)
That’s an interesting point. Given that there’s a good working relationship between the ANC and DA in the government of national unity, what’s the ANC’s response?
Cilliers Brink (20:54.008)
There are discussions, but I want to emphasise that the intention was never to duplicate the national government at a municipal level. We tried to secure a stability agreement with the ANC to avoid motions of no confidence, but the relationship between the DA and the ANC in Gauteng is not great. It’s unclear how this will play out, but the door is still open for Action SA to recommit to the coalition.
Alec Hogg (22:45.592)
Extraordinary times. We have a template in Cape Town for how a metro can be governed well. Cilliers Brink has made a strong case through the actions in Tshwane, but we’ll see how this unfolds. I’m Alec Hogg from BizNews.com.
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