Mistrust in the DA has reached disproportionate levels: Tshwane EFF

The Tshwane EFF has lambasted the DA in the municipality for allegedly bullying multiparty partners and subverting confidentiality in a secret ballot. 

This after Tshwane speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana was elected in the wee hours of Tuesday morning through such a ballot. His ATM party, which has one seat in council, garnered support from an ANC/EFF alliance and minority parties, receiving 105 votes. 

He beat DA-led multiparty candidate Kholofelo Morudi from ActionSA, who received 37 votes. 

The DA's 69 ballots were disqualified and marked spoilt by the Electoral Commission (IEC) because it is alleged the party allocated its councillors numbers (1-69) and instructed them to vote using these instead of the usual “X”, thereby enabling identification of any member who abstained from voting.

This resulted in Ndzwanana’s victory. 

The EFF accused the DA of establishing its own voting rules, which were not discussed during IEC presentations.

The red berets' regional chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu said the DA's instruction that its councillors vote using numbers for identification purposes was inconsistent with the rules in the Electoral Observer Handbook of 2021. 

“Consequently, the DA protested the outcome of the election having failed dismally. The concept of democracy has become elusive to the DA. In their self-glorification of constitutionalism and upholding the rule of law, it appears this principle does not apply to their own councillors.” 

Ramabodu accused the party of treating coalition partners in an “extremely toxic and abusive” manner. 

“The councillors of the multiparty have been victimised in the secret ballot saga through polygraph tests and voter identification numbers, as seen recently. The level of mistrust in the DA has reached disproportionate levels. How then can the multiparty govern the city effectively?

“Democracy in the DA is nothing more than a dream that has vanished into thin air. The party might as well change its name to the Autocratic Alliance,” said Ramabodu. 

The EFF leader added that the degree of self-entitlement in the DA was close to “mental derangement”.  

“They think everything in the city is about them. It is very clear that the DA had no intention of supporting the candidate because their candidate did not get the mayorship. In their misguided sense of entitlement, they did not support the candidate for the position contested.  

“This begs the question: if black councillors in the DA are subjected to this level of racism, what about ordinary black people in the townships and informal areas?

“ActionSA and the rest of the coalition partners must peacefully accept they are subordinate to the DA and nothing is going to change that position.”

Parties in a multiparty coalition with the DA became “political subcontractors” of their policies, programmes and political ideology, Ramabodu added.  

“The election of Ndzwanana signifies the restoration of democracy and cordial engagement in the municipal council,” he said. 

Ramabodu said he was confident suppression of councillors would become a thing of the past. His party called on Ndzwanana to expeditiously convene a council meeting to elect an executive mayor, which would lead to the consolidation of the mayoral team to re-establish executive authority in the city.  

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