Pretoria – The ANC in Gauteng has welcomed the election of Sivuyile Ngodwana, of the African Independent Congress (AIC), as executive mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni, replacing the DA’s Tania Campbell who was ousted through a vote of no confidence.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Friday morning, ANC Gauteng spokesperson Lesego Makhubela said the DA-led administration had ruined service delivery in Ekurhuleni and other metros in Gauteng.
“There is now enough evidence that suggests that wherever the DA governs, it collapses everything. They inherited a smooth, well-running municipality which was previously led by the ANC between 2016 and 2021 with a budget surplus, and now when Tania Campbell comes and leaves, she leaves the city in the red, with finances crumbling, services not reaching the people in historically black townships,” said Makhubela.
He said Campbell had refused to visit and engage with residents in the townships.
“That is why we have had to come together with all parties in that particular council and ensure that we restart service delivery by ousting her and her party, and ensuring that the DA and its overflow facility for black leaders, ActionSA, are out of that municipality.”
Despite the DA’s service delivery track record in the Western Cape, Makhubela argued that the provincial picture excluded predominantly black settlements and that was why the DA’s reign in Gauteng municipalities had been turbulent.
“In Gauteng today, if you are to drive anywhere and hit a pothole, you will be hitting it in a municipal road. If you drive where we are governing, in the provincial roads, you will never hit any pothole. In Ekurhuleni they failed to maintain roads, you have mayors that have not even entered into any township.
“You can even go to Tshwane, for instance. The people of Tshwane, to this day, they say to us we yearn for the days of the ANC leading government under Dr Sputla Ramokgopa. They tell us that because they know that an international credit rating body came to the City of Tshwane and actually downgraded it to junk status in 2021,” said Makhubela.
Ramokgopa has recently been appointed minister of electricity by President Cyril Ramaphosa, following unprecedented blackouts across the country.
Campbell was voted out on Thursday by 35 votes – the motion of no confidence received 126 votes in support, 91 votes against.
The motion of no confidence against Campbell was brought by the ANC, the EFF, and a group of smaller political parties.
EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga said Ngodwana would be supported by the red berets during his tenure as Ekurhuleni mayor.
“We understand that this is a governance of minorities who now form part of a majority. You have seen that the election outcome was over 120 plus in terms of the support base. That is going to require a lot of engagement across caucuses, it is going to require extensive and continuous relations amongst the political organisations that are like-minded,” he said.
“We are of the firm belief that we will get it right, and the executive as well will be a true reflection of the co-operative that we are going to take, moving forward.
“Unless you do something extremely drastic, for us to remove you mayor (Ngodwana), be rest assured that you have our support as we make a reaffirmation and commitment to a stable government,” said Dunga.
IOL