The ongoing conflict between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC leadership and its Gauteng counterparts has resurfaced, centring on the upcoming no-confidence vote against Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink. Amidst coalition struggles, Gauteng remains a pivotal province for South Africa’s economic recovery. The ANC’s efforts to align its provincial leadership with national priorities face resistance, while ActionSA’s withdrawal from Tshwane’s coalition adds further complexity. This political battle highlights the strategic challenges in stabilizing Gauteng’s government and economy.
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By John Matisonn
The unresolved conflict between President Cyril Rampahosa’s national ANC leadership and their Gauteng provincial counterparts is back on the front-burner in the light of Thursday’s scheduled no confidence vote in the Tshwane city council. ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Forming a viable Gauteng provincial government to manage South Africa’s biggest provincial economy remains the unfinished business of the coalition talks that followed the May general election in which the ANC lost its majority.
In June, Gauteng’s leaders under Premier Panyaza Lesufi successfully resisted Ramaphosa’s insistence that they strike a deal with the DA, opting instead for a minority government that can be voted out anytime the DA and other opposition parties agree to combine.
At last week’s ANC National Working Committee meeting an overwhelming majority of members argued for the ANC provincial executive to be disbanded, but the decision was deferred for further consultation, in part because it was felt that Lesufi himself remains too popular in the province to be removed.
This left Gauteng as the big prize to be resolved if the Government of National Unity (GNU) is to make serious strides in turning around 15 years of economic stagnation. To restore national economic health it is necessary to put Gauteng’s three large metros, Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni on a stable growth path.
Fixing Gauteng received added urgency when the DA’s Tshwane partner since 2021, Action South Africa, withdrew from the municipal government while negotiating to oust it in partnership with the ANC.
The council is scheduled to vote on an ANC motion of no confidence in DA mayor Cilliers Brink on Thursday. Luthuli House has pressured the Tshwane ANC to withdraw the motion and instead negotiate with the DA to replace ActionSA on the Tshwane executive committee with the ANC.
The planned no confidence motion in Tshwane DA mayor Cilliers Brink on Thursday feeds into the ongoing conflict in the party over President Cyril Rampahosa’s “long game” strategy to resolve the unworkable minority ANC government in Gauteng.
If Luthuli House can persuade its Tshwane councillors to choose the DA as their partner, it would take it a key step closer to applying the same solution in the Gauteng provincial government.
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that, if the ANC withdraws its motion of no confidence, ActionSA will propose the motion instead.
That will compel ANC councillors to vote in open session either for the position taken by the party’s national position or its provincial position. Councillors can ask for a secret ballot, which may or may not be granted.
Beaumont said that to win, ActionSA needs the votes of the ANC and another party like the Freedom Front +. Without the FF+, other parties like the Economic Freedom Fighters could get the motion over the top, but it would probably prefer to avoid joining with the EFF. ActionSA has informed the ANC that it wants the mayor’s position.
The crisis over Tshwane’s government brings to a head the war of nerves between Luthuli House and Lesufi, and Ramaphosa’s famous “long game” negotiating strategy will again be tested.
The planned no confidence vote in the DA’s Tshwane mayor on Thursday is now linked to the ANC’s efforts to bring its Gauteng leadership into line with its national DA partner.
The crisis was sparked when ActionSA withdrew from its coalition in Tshwane where it had the deputy mayor’s position. At the time, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the decision was sparked by information that the DA was planning to oust the ASA in favour of the ANC.
This weekend ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba attributed a string of failures to Brink’s administration of the city to explain his party’s decision to leave Brink’s executive. Calling Tshwane insolvent, he said Eskom debt has ballooned to R6.83 billion, contingent liabilities were rising, and a previously unqualified audit was now qualified.
In the May election, ANC support fell from 50% to 36% in Gauteng. The three by-elections in the province this month did not show a clear trend since the general election, with the ANC gaining votes in two and losing in one. But a reordering of voters’ loyalties has continued.
The EFF seemed to continue its decline, but the ANC has no reason to be complacent as small parties like Al Jama-ah, the Patriotic Alliance and the Pan Africanist Congress made notable gains.
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