Can the DA secure the helping hand of their “enemy number one” to dissolve eThekwini's council and necessitate fresh elections?
The DA filed a motion to dissolve the council at the tail end of 2023, citing service delivery failures among its reasons.
Should the motion prove successful, it would enforce section 34 of the Municipal Structures Act, which allows the council to dissolve itself without provincial government approval.
On Saturday, the DA stepped up its calls for the dissolution of the metro with a picket outside the Durban City Hall.
eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said the city had “collapsed” under the ANC-EFF leadership, with none of its service delivery departments functional. He said only leadership could rescue the situation.
“We’ve come to a realisation that eThekwini municipality can no longer self-correct: the only solution and option available to the people is to dissolve the council and make sure that we go to fresh elections.”
That, however, would need buy-in from other opposition parties, including the EFF, who command 10% of the 222 seats that make up the council.
The EFF has been voting with the ANC and other smaller parties since December 2022 when it helped remove former deputy mayor Philani Mavundla, adding their support to the ANC’s 42% seats.
Mthethwa said they had began the process of engaging other political parties last year, but they could not get to all 24 of them.
DA leader John Steenhuisen, who attended the picket at the weekend, did not confirm if the DA engaged parties such as the EFF for their support.
He said the municipality was failing and any party that placed the interests of their citizens above their own interests would be willing to help their motion.
“Those parties, the EFF and many other smaller parties, are going to have to make a choice: do you support what’s going on (in eThekwini) or are you going to be part of the solution?
“I believe the opposition parties will do well in a recall election. I think we will be able to reduce the ANC’s numbers significantly, which will allow us to get a fresh start for eThekwini and get the city back on track.”
However, major opposition parties have since questioned the sincerity of the motion, telling TimesLIVE Premium that the DA had not done the necessary consultations with them.
“It’s common knowledge that an opposition party wanting to do something that requires the majority approaches all other opposition parties. It’s just a stunt,” said the EFF eThekwini caucus leader Themba Mvubu.
ActionSA said they would support the motion because they believed there was a need for a fresh mandate, but the refusal to engage particularly the EFF would be their downfall.
“You will never pass any decision in council without the EFF and if you’re not prepared to engage them it means you’re not serious. When we passed the motion for insourcing, it was because we engaged the ANC and the EFF,” said ActionSA eThekwini caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango.
Mncwango questioned the DA’s intention to hold a public picket instead of consulting parties in council to support their motion.
“The DA is arrogant to a point that they know very well that to dissolve the municipality you need a two-thirds majority of councillors supporting the motion — but they are not prepared to engage with other parties,” said Mncwango.
“Instead of engaging us who would be voting for the motion, they decided to go and picket at the City Hall. Who are they picketing against? Who are you asking support from because those who are supposed to be voting are councillors whom you are not consulting.”
The IFP’s Mduduzi Nkosi said the DA had tried to set up a meeting with them to discuss the motion, but their schedules clashed.
He said they would support the motion.
With the motion earmarked to be put before the council next week, the EFF is playing its cards close to its chest.
Mvubu said neither the DA nor the ANC was guaranteed their vote at the moment.
“We will take our position once we get a directive from the leadership so at the moment no-one owns our vote, not the ANC nor the DA. No-one will just get an automatic support (from us), including the ANC.”
He said the EFF was commanded from “one central point” thus such discussions would have to happen at national level.
“We’re not a federal organisation where the EFF of eThekwini will take a decision on its own and the EFF in iLembe, for example, do their own thing, it doesn't work like that. We get commanded from one central point so such discussions would have to happen at national level.”
Siyabonga Ntombela, a political analyst and politics and international affairs lecturer at UKZN, said the motion was unlikely to succeed because the ANC-EFF coalition guarantees both parties power and control of the municipal purse with the EFF controlling more than R4bn via the human settlements portfolio that it heads.
“If this motion passes then the EFF would also be accepting failure since they control the budget that is responsible for rendering services.”
He added there have been some tensions between the two parties of late, where the ANC has “lambasted” the EFF, saying they control a big chunk of the budget but not doing anything.
“You start to see cracks in this marriage, but I don't say that is sufficient for the EFF to renege on the deal with the ANC.”
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