The city of Tshwane has seen major political changes this year.
The Democratic Alliance-led coalition government collapsed after ActionSA severed ties with the party and joined forces with the African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other minority parties.
This led to the ANC taking back the metro, and ActionSA's Dr Nasifi Moya becoming Tshwane's first citizen.
Political instability hit Tshwane when a rift appeared in the relationship between the DA and ActionSA.
Eighteen months after being elected, DA Mayor Cilliers Brink's future was in jeopardy.
On September 26, he was ousted in a no-confidence motion supported by ActionSA and the ANC.
Brink, who was only able to gather 87 votes compared to 120, described ActionSA's move as a betrayal.
“We at the Coalition were not informed of anything about this matter. There are no official documents and no clear indications that it will become a fact. Taking into account the statement of In view of the fact that our repeated attempts to meet with the people have been refused, we can only accept that this is the situation. I think it's a betrayal.”
Brink's ouster left Tshwane without a mayor, and intense negotiations ensued.
Despite Brink's suspension, the DA's office pushed for his reinstatement.
Their future as a new opposition party began to emerge when ANC national spokesperson Marengi Bhengu Motsili publicly agreed with ActionSA.
“The ANC has sought to engage all parties to work together to form a functional, viable and inclusive government of local unity, but a brink-or-nothing approach will never work. Parties expressed a willingness to be flexible in the negotiations and move beyond narrow party political interests.
In October, Dr. Nasifi Moya was overwhelmingly elected mayor.
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba criticized the DA for focusing on providing services to wealthy areas.
“We are committed to serving all communities in the City of Tshwane.”
Kwena Moloto, a spokesperson for the Democratic Caucus, who sits on the opposition benches, vowed to hold the new coalition to account.
“We do not believe that action has cost us this job today. Currently the city is ruled by the ANC, the anti-GNU faction, the Panyaza Lesufi faction and the EFF. was active in holding them accountable.”
Meanwhile, Dr Moya promised to prioritize service delivery especially in townships. and solving Tshwane's economic challenges.
“One of the things we need to focus on is reviewing both the execution of our financial plan and other things that we can identify in our financial plan. But if we build on that financial plan, we can improve and I’m confident we can move forward from there.”
The coalition's challenge is to maintain the status quo while working on service delivery in the run-up to the 2026 elections.
Analysis | Professor Lesiba Tefo talks about the political instability in Tshwane as follows:
