EFF leader Julius Malema has announced his party’s decision to withdraw from any co-operation and working relationship with the ANC.
He decried how their erstwhile ally had abandoned the initial working agreement, which saw the two parties being among those co-governing metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng, as well as the EFF supporting premier Panyaza Lesufi’s minority government in the province.
“We have taken a decision not to work with the ANC out of the principle that when you are engaged in a co-governance, it means no one rules by himself, you rule by consensus.”
The straw that broke the camel’s back is reportedly Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosingiphile Xhakaza, who has supposedly gone rogue, seeking to push the EFF out of their governance responsibilities in his metro.
Malema said there are political consequences for political decisions.
“But if you have a mayor in Ekurhuleni who wakes up one day and decides that he’s taking EFF people out of the responsibilities that we have collectively decided on, without a due process, clearly we are running a shebeen, it’s not a political co-operation. When you do that, you are simply saying you don’t care what happens. For every political decision there are political consequences and therefore the ANC should face them.”
He said the ANC should abandon its big brother perspective in coalition politics, adding that it is an Achilles heel that restricts the party from collective engagement.
“In the past, we told them that they must try to learn and internalise that they are no longer in power. A person who knows how to do that is the premier in Gauteng who is forever in consultation with all the stakeholders, but the rest do not.
“The downfall of the ANC will be Xhakaza. He’s the ANC’s mess here. For him, it doesn’t matter whoever is going to come into power in Ekurhuleni, that Xhakaza is going to work with them as if he is the winner and the one who won elections. He has not won anything, nothing at all. One of the arguments is, ‘why did the EFF remove the best speaker and bring a person we don’t like?’”
In December, EFF speaker, Nthabiseng Tshivenga, was redeployed from Ekurhuleni to the Gauteng legislature, a move which ruffled Xhakaza’s feathers.
When the time came in January to elect a new speaker, the EFF fielded former finance MMC Nkululeko Dunga as a candidate, while the ANC contested with its own candidate, who eventually won.
“ He (Dunda) is the former MMC of finance who stabilised the finances of Ekurhuleni and put it in good shape. We can’t say the same today when the finances of Ekurhuleni have collapsed.”
When we say we cannot continue to work with people in a co-operative government who are not respecting us and want to take unilateral decisions, it means this is not in the best interests of our people to continue to participate in that kind of government
— Julius Malema, EFF leader
Malema alleged that Xhakaza wants to interfere in the administration and wants people he can bully, but knows he can’t do that with Dunga.
He said the decision to withdraw from a working relationship would be beneficial for their constituency.
“Every time Xhakaza makes mad decisions we are going to be involved in that mess. So we pull out so that people can see that we are not part of this mess. We are participating in a co-operation with other parties in the local municipalities because we want something that will work for the people. If it is no longer working for the people but it works for the individual’s interest, it goes around empowering friends, girlfriends and boyfriends, we can’t be part of such a mess.”
The red beret leader conceded that the decision would have dire consequences for the stability of the Gauteng government.
“Unfortunately, the budget of Gauteng and the MEC of finance find themselves as part of collateral damage. There is nothing wrong they have done to us; if anything, I know that the MEC has been trying by all means to make sure that all these things work so that we can have a proper government and, through Gauteng government, prove that you can govern and govern successfully without white people.
“But we cannot achieve that if we get undermined and looked down upon by politically illiterate, amateurish individuals with no proper and questionable credentials..”
Sowetan