‘We refuse to be a slave to the DA’ — Patriotic Alliance on rejecting coalition offer

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) has rejected its proposed return to the DA-led multiparty coalition arrangement in Gauteng, accusing the DA of using black, coloured and Indian people as a “means to an end” and claiming the party does not respect its input.

This comes after a leaked letter from DA leader John Steenhuisen to the multiparty coalition partners accused the PA of using members of the mayoral committee (MMC) positions to advance criminal activities, looting through tenders and engaging potential coalition partners with a view to extort them.

The DA said it wanted to limit the PA’s power by offering it only one MMC position in Joburg and none in the Ekurhuleni metro.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, PA deputy president Kenny Kunene lambasted the DA, saying the party thinks it is  the “god of coalitions”.

“We did not go to the multiparty coalition with cap in hand asking to go back. We were sitting in our own corner and they came to us to ask us to rejoin the coalition, and we said 'these are our conditions'.

“The parties agreed. Action SA didn’t only agree. They gave up their seats for us in Joburg and Ekurhuleni. This proposal did not affect the DA in any way and they still refused. It boils down to why we left the DA coalition in the first place,” Kunene said.

The PA ditched the DA-led coalition and voted for a motion of no confidence in Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse which saw her removed in September. She challenged the decision in court and returned as mayor.

Despite the advanced talks to rope the PA back into the coalition and buy-in from the other coalition partners (ActionSA, IFP, ACDP and FF Plus), the DA remained firm on its stance to limit the PA's power and reject their demands.

Kunene accused the DA of being “a racist white supremacist party”.

“The PA refuses to be a slave to them. We reject that offer with the contempt it deserves. As far as the DA is concerned, black people and coloured people are the means to an end for them. They see themselves as a master and everyone else as subjects,” he said.

Steenhuisen told coalition partners “mayoral portfolios that are especially vulnerable to patronage politics and tenderpreneurship should not be entrusted to the Patriotic Alliance until they have demonstrated significant good faith”.

In response, Kunene said the DA “are the last people to talk about criminality and cadre deployment. They have deliberately collapsed Gauteng municipalities and left them in financial ruin, whereas they govern their precious Western Cape municipalities with clean audits.

“The biggest tenders are in the environment, infrastructure and services development portfolio, which the DA has and refused to give to ActionSA. That’s where the biggest contracts are. Their only difference is that they are able to hide their corruption.”

ActionSA has told the DA it is willing to forgo the MMC portfolio it has in Joburg to make room for the DA to meet PA leader Gayton McKenzie’s demands.

ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said the DA will have no-one to blame but itself should it again lose control of Gauteng metros for being unreasonable about the PA's demands to head mayoral committee portfolios in transport and economic development in Joburg, and transport and community safety in Ekurhuleni.

“The coalition is deeply concerned the DA is rejecting the agreement, saying ActionSA has made far too many concessions. Are they upset we have made concessions for their mayor to continue governing?” Beaumont asked.

Phalatse’s return to her job may be short-lived should another motion of no confidence against her be tabled before council.

TimesLIVE

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