ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba has rejected the invitation for his party’s Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate, Xolani Khumalo, to serve on the mayoral committee.
This follows a late-night mayoral committee reshuffle by mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, who sacked most EFF mayoral committee members and, in a surprise twist, sought to appoint Khumalo in his executive.
The mayor allocated his party five mayoral committee seats and only two to the EFF. The rest were shared between minority parties and ActionSA, who have rejected the positions.
[ActionSA] will not lend credibility to an administration that has overseen the lawlessness and deterioration of service delivery that continues to cripple the city.
— Herman Mashaba, ActionSA leader
Mashaba said his party will not be coerced into joining the Ekurhuleni metro administration.
“Our position has been very clear on every occasion that we will not lend credibility to an administration that has overseen the lawlessness and deterioration of service delivery that continues to cripple the city,” he said.
Mashaba labelled the announcement a manipulative gimmick, as they have previously rejected overtures from Xhakaza.
“Following repeated and unsuccessful attempts by mayor Xhakaza to solicit ActionSA’s participation in his administration, I have consistently made it clear that we will not join his failing government and have rejected every personal and formal approach made to us.
“The people of Ekurhuleni are tired of dysfunction, lawlessness and the collapse of basic municipal services. ActionSA’s focus remains on restoring governance, cleaning out corruption, restoring the rule of law and fixing the fundamentals of service delivery.”
TimesLIVE has previously reported on the Ekurhuleni mayor’s bid to axe his red beret co-governing partners, saying that he should not be forced to work with them for the sake of the rest of the Gauteng metros as well as the provincial government, which is propped up by EFF support in the legislature.
The last straw was the fielding of an ANC speaker in a position historically designated to the EFF in a recent Ekurhuleni council meeting, following which EFF leader Julius Malema announced a withdrawal of support for the ANC wherever they had existing agreements.
TimesLIVE
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