Democratic Alliance mayor Cilliers Brink was removed from office in a vote of no confidence brought by the ANC and supported by ActionSA. (Frenny Shivambu/Gallo Images)
Tshwane city officials on Thursday publicly celebrated the removal of Mayor Cilliers Brink from office following a Democratic Alliance (DA) vote of no confidence tabled by the ANC and supported by ActionSA.
“We are free from a monster,” one staff member shouted as Mr. Brink left the building after the vote, with 14 days left to elect the city's new mayor.
Mr Brink was ousted in a vote supported by the DA's former coalition partner ActionSA, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and smaller parties in the council.
A total of 120 councilors voted to remove Brink from office, but 87 voted to keep him in office, with one member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, who was a member of the council's executive committee, abstaining.
City workers clapped and cheered outside City Hall as Brink left, then followed him out of the apartment complex.
Members of the South African Local Government Workers Union have been at odds with Brink since he took office, accusing his government of being anti-worker and refusing to meet pay demands. .
Mr Brink was removed despite last-minute attempts by state parliamentary leaders to persuade ANC leadership to allow him to remain in office.
ANC Tshwane regional secretary George Matjila said: email and guardian He claimed the DA had been “arrogant” in its negotiations and insisted on letting Mr Tshwane run alone without sharing power with the party.
Mr Matsila said the national ANC had only held talks with provincial authorities over forming a coalition government in Tshwane, but that the provincial authorities' demands were unreasonable.
“When you start saying you want to take responsibility and give it to us; [the city of] Ekurhuleni, the ANC we are talking about has Ekurhuleni. In the negotiations themselves, the DA was seen as arrogant,” Matjira said.
A source at ActionSA said. M&G The party will win the mayoralty and five MMC posts, while the ANC will win three MMC and deputy mayoral posts. EFF will gain two MMC positions.
The official said the agreement was reached by both parties before ANC Tshwane regional leaders met with national leadership on Wednesday.
“This is what we agreed to, but the ANC met yesterday so we do not know the current position, but as far as we know the agreement has not changed,” they said.
Gauteng Democratic Party leader Solly Msimanga said in a statement that ActionSA had disrupted the trend of progress and unity that the Tshwane multiparty coalition government had worked tirelessly to build.
He said ActionSA's “conspiracy” had played into the power-hungry hands of the ANC.
The ANC was not interested in good governance in Tshwane but wanted to “loot and steal from a stable government” and ActionSA was complicit in the destabilization that accompanied the ANC's seizure of power.
“The Doomsday Coalition will occupy Tshwane and follow the same path as Joburg and Ekurhuleni. Urban decay and failure to provide services await the good people of Tshwane,” Msimanga said.
“It is clear that once parties get a whiff of what they perceive to be power, they will sacrifice constitutional principles to exact a misguided personal vendetta.”