Durban — Despite working well under the government of national and provincial unity, the DA has turned down the ANC’s request to work together in eThekwini Municipality.
The ANC had offered the DA’s caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa a position to chair the Human Settlements portfolio committee, but he did not accept the position, citing pending approval from his party.
The Human Settlements and Infrastructure portfolio has been reconfigured and divided into two ‒namely, Trading Services and Human Settlements. These are now two separate committees.
The Human Settlements portfolio committee which the DA turned down was now anchored with engineering and transport services.
Under Trading Services, are water and sanitation, cleansing & solid waste services, and the electricity unit.
The Trading Services portfolio committee is now chaired by the IFP’s Mdu Nkosi, whose party is another member of the GNU and GPU. Nkosi confirmed that his national leadership had given him the go-ahead to chair the committee but said he was unsure whether his accepting the position could be construed as co-governing with the ANC, saying if there was a matter his party was opposed to, it would still vote against the ANC.
Giving the reasons for turning down the Government of Local Unity (GLU) proposal, the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Dean Macpherson blamed the ANC, saying it was its unwillingness to agree to the draft court order of the DA which will give power and the ability to fix the water and sanitation crisis in the City.
“Unfortunately the DA remains unable to take up any positions in the eThekwini municipality despite our very best efforts due to the unwillingness of the ANC to agree to our draft court order which would give us the power and ability to fix the water and sanitation crisis in the City. The DA has done everything it can to find a solution through the impasse but believes it is in the best interests of the residents to remain in opposition and force the City to fix the water crisis through our court case which will be heard on October 3 and 4,” said Macpherson.
Another hurdle Macpherson cited for his party’s refusal to co-govern the City with the ANC was the decision to keep the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) under the EFF despite having ended the coalition with it.
“We also cannot govern with the EFF remaining as the chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee as we are simply unable to be in government with them,” he added.
eThekwini EFF chairperson Themba Mvubu laughed off the DA’s demand which he said was ridiculous, saying the party must win elections in 2026 so that it would be able to implement its demands.
Hitting back, ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo accused the DA of being power-hungry. Mtolo said the GLU was now very stable to join the GNU and GPU, however, he said joining the GLU was a voluntary choice to every party and not compulsory.
“I think the DA has unfortunately developed a high thirst for power and positions, during this period it wanted to chair the water and sanitation portfolio committee and also chair MPAC at all costs. When they could not get the MPAC chair position they decided to throw out the baby with the bathwater,” said Mtolo.
Reacting to the ANC/DA impasse in the local sphere, University of KwaZulu-Natal political analyst Dr Fikile Vilakazi said she has a feeling that even the GNU would not last, citing the ideological differences between the DA and ANC.
Vilakazi said the GNU itself was a forced marriage and was not created by the sharing of the same values and ideologies by the parties involved. Unlike in the GNU where many issues were about policy making, local government was where parties dealt with more serious issues like service delivery, she said.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News