Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

South Africa

South Africa

Blow to Joburg DA as Patriotic Alliance helps install Cope’s Colleen Makhubele as council Speaker

Blow to Joburg DA as Patriotic Alliance helps install Cope’s Colleen Makhubele as council Speaker
Queenin Masuabi
By Queenin Masuabi
28 Sep 2022
Facebook
11
The Patriotic Alliance’s decision to vote with the opposition in the City of Joburg has left the DA in an even more vulnerable position after the party’s candidate for Speaker was defeated by Congress of the People’s Colleen Makhubele.

The DA was left with egg on its face after losing an election battle for the position of Speaker in the City of Johannesburg council to opposition parties on Wednesday. Cope councillor Colleen Makhubele beat the DA’s chair of chairs Alex Christians, who was the candidate for the multiparty coalition government. 

This was possible because the Patriotic Alliance (PA) supported the opposition, consisting of the ANC, EFF, Cope, ATM, UIM, Al Jama-ah, AIC, Good, AHC, PAC and ATM. The PA has eight seats in the Joburg council — enough to give Makhubele the win with 141 votes, while the coalition garnered 129 votes.




The PA issued a statement after the council meeting explaining that it had already informed coalition partners of its intention not to support Christians because of the DA’s “arrogance”.

In a letter, the PA said it felt “disrespected” and had been threatened with legal action by the DA.

“Although today will be a secret ballot, it is not our style to leave things to the imagination. Due to the disrespect shown to us by the DA during this period, which we could just as easily call a moment of truth for all of us, we will not be supporting their candidate for Speaker.



“The legalistic threats from the DA of attempting to enforce the rules of contract law and pursuing ‘consequences’ for violations of contract law are laughable at best and deeply insulting of our intelligence at worst; hence I am telling you openly that you do not have our support today. If you wish to go to court on this, feel free,” the letter reads.

The coalition has shown cracks in the past month which led to the ousting of City of Joburg Speaker Vasco da Gama. Makhubele, with five councillors who are members of the City of Joburg multiparty coalition, voted to remove Da Gama.

Executive Mayor Mpho Phalatse’s future also hangs in the balance as she faces a no-confidence vote, sponsored by the ANC.

Zille rejects power-sharing in Gauteng metros


DA Federal Council Chair Helen Zille on Sunday sent a letter to the coalition technical task team in which she refused the agreement’s reconfiguration to allow the Speaker to be a member of one of the smaller political parties. This was a suggestion made not only for the City of Joburg, but also Ekurhuleni and Tshwane. The current agreement between parties states that both the mayor and Speaker should come from the DA.

“The DA, following serious consideration at the Federal Executive, rejects any proposal to reconfigure coalition governments,” the letter reads.

Zille said the reconfiguration of the agreement would lead to the destabilising of the city and shift the focus from the primary goal of the coalition, which was to deliver services to residents.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “DA coalition partner says Da Gama had to go to balance City of Joburg power dynamics”  

“First, as a matter of political consideration, any reopening of negotiations regarding government configuration will introduce significant uncertainty and delays in municipal government and service delivery. The current government configuration is a result of weeks, and in some cases, months of negotiations. The municipalities concerned are hotly contested and governed in tumultuous political conditions.

“To disturb the current functionality of these municipalities, only to appease political ambitions, could undermine months of hard work, undertaken by all parties, to achieve a functioning government in these municipalities,” she said.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Was Zuma right that the ANC will rule forever or can the opposition parties get it together to form a coalition government in 2024?”

She further wrote that legal implications could arise as a consequence of not abiding by the coalition agreement.

“All parties to the agreement are bound by clause 5.5 and Annexure C. The proposals aired on 19 and 20 September 2022 intend to contradict and contravene clause 5.5 and Annexure C. Parties agreed to how political appointments were to be made during negotiations. The proposals contradict this. They intend to reconfigure the government after the conclusion of negotiations on the coalition agreement. Parties seeking to do this intend to go back on their word.” DM

Categories:

Tags: