Ekurhuleni council meeting delayed as ANC, AIC wrangle over agreement

18 August 2016 - 13:00 By Kingdom Mabuza And Penwell Dlamini

The City of Ekurhuleni surprisingly postponed its inaugural council to next Tuesday without providing any reasons. The council meeting was scheduled to take place on Friday‚ but an urgent communication was sent to inform councillors and the public of the delay.TMG Digital has established that the postponement was as a result of disagreements between the African National Congress (ANC) and the African Independent Congress (AIC). The AIC‚ which has four seats‚ was unhappy with the wording of the agreement it has with the ANC.AIC spokesman Aubrey Mhlongo admitted that his party referred the agreement back to the ANC to include all conditions which were verbally agreed on by the two parties.Although Mhlongo could not reveal details of the agreement between the two parties‚ the reversal of the decision to incorporate the Matatiele area back to KwaZulu-Natal from the Eastern Cape was on top of the list of its demands.“Yes‚ we were unhappy with certain aspects of the agreement and we took it back to the ANC for amendments‚ but we have now signed the agreement to work jointly‚” said Mhlongo. In a desperate attempt to keep the Democratic Alliance (DA) out of the mayorship race‚ the ANC duly submitted to the demand of the AIC to review the Demarcation Board decision.The ANC received the majority of votes in Ekurhuleni - 48.64%‚ followed by the DA with 34.15% and the Economic Freedom Fighters with 11.23%. The DA‚ with the support of the EFF‚ the AIC and other smaller parties can turn the tables against the ANC in terms of number of votes.The AIC secured four seats‚ while parties such as the Inkatha Freedom Party‚ Freedom Front Plus‚ Pan Africanist Congress of Azania‚ Progressive Alliance‚ Congress of the People all secured a single seat.Meanwhile‚ the City of Tshwane finally confirmed that it would hold its inaugural meeting on Friday. There had been conflicting reports from the country's capital as to when the council would sit.– TMG Digital..

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