Mpho Phalatse clears the air on why she wants to work with the EFF

Newly reinstated Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse has cleared the air on why she wanted to work with the EFF in Johannesburg after DA federal chairperson Helen Zille shut her proposal down.

Phalatse’s attempts to regain control of the city were dealt a blow when the official opposition party rejected her proposal to work with the EFF to unseat the ANC-led coalition.

Zille said the federal executive had turned down Phalatse’s proposal because the party could not work with the EFF, which calls on its followers to “murder people on the basis of their race”.

Speaking on 702, Phalatse claimed she had not yet presented the proposal herself before the federal executive.

She explained the proposal was not to enter into a formal coalition agreement with the EFF but it would have functioned similarly to the DA's relationship with the party in other municipalities like Ekurhuleni and Mogale City, where the EFF has an oversight position.

“It's already happening in other municipalities where we govern. If you look at what's happening in Ekurhuleni, if you look at what's happening at Mogale City. In Ekurhuleni we have a minority government, and you ask yourself, 'how did we survive all these months?'. You will notice that the mayor has a very good working relationship with the EFF.

“That's really, for me, the parameters within which I thought we could operate. I wasn't asking for anything new,” said Phalatse.

Phalatse said she had asked for a hearing with the federal council to iron out details of her proposal.

“There are conversations to be had and those conversations will happen, and that's why I've asked for a hearing with the fed ex so that we can have those conversations. I unfortunately was not part of that fed ex meeting. So, I can't even say what reservations were raised by various fed ex members,” she said.

Speaking to the Sunday Times' Kgothatso Madisa, Zille said the DA could not win back power without the EFF but said the DA would not work with a party that calls for the killing of white people.

“We cannot govern with a party who applauds when their leader calls on his followers to murder people on the basis of their race,” Zille said.

She added the DA had made an undertaking to never negotiate any deals with the EFF or any coalition arrangements with it, whereas its coalition partner, ActionSA, had “taken the opposite position” and is “prepared to go into coalition with the EFF”.

Online, many weighed in on Zille's decision to reject Phalatse's proposal.