ANALYSIS: As coalitions spar for power and money, SA metros are in meltdown By Stephen Grootes
On Monday morning the City of Tshwane awoke to no political leadership. There is no mayor, as Stevens Mokgalapa has resigned. His resignation caused the dissolution of the Mayoral Council that he had appointed. There is no city manager because of disputes over who that person should be. And there is no acting city manager because the council meeting that was due to take place to continue the term of the former acting city manager did not occur.
When a metro cannot manage itself, when there is no mayor or leadership, the province is supposed to be in a position in which it could take over. In Gauteng, the ANC-led provincial government would be the body that would temporarily take over. However, the actions of Gauteng Cooperative Governance MEC Lebogang Maile have made it easy for the DA to accuse him of not acting neutrally.
And the ANC’s position on matters like this may have been weakened through the party’s nomination and support of one of the most visible Speaker positions over the last 10 years, Baleka Mbete in the National Assembly. She was regularly accused of behaving less than neutrally in her actions towards the EFF and the DA. This may have cost the party any claim to political neutrality in these cases.
The only way that any of the parties here could budge is if either the ANC and the EFF come to some kind of power-sharing arrangement, or if the political cost to the parties for allowing this situation to continue starts to rise – in other words, if a party is worried that it will be punished in the 2021 local elections because of its current behaviour.
However, it is by no means certain that the ANC is in much better shape. While it would have more resources and may win more votes than the DA, it also might struggle to reach a majority. It is entirely possible that, despite an election, the political situation in the council might not improve much.
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