Cape Town - Former ANC chairperson in Gauteng and premier David Makhura has been appointed to lead the ruling party in coalitions.
This follows chaos in municipalities where mayors have been ousted after coalition parties fall out. In Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse was the latest mayor to be ousted after serving a year in office. Thapelo Amad is the new mayor.
In Tshwane, Randall Williams resigned as mayor over a week ago and there was chaos afterwards as it was not clear when his resignation was coming into effect after he sent two letters.
In Ekurhuleni, the speaker was ousted but was replaced by the court.
Since the 2021 elections, the number of hung municipalities increased from 27 in 2016 to 66.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula announced on Tuesday that Makhura – now based full-time at Luthuli House as head of political education – would, as part of his job, look at coalitions.
Mbalula said Makhura will work closely with the newly elected chairperson of the NEC sub-committee on legislature and governance Thembi Nkadimeng.
Nkadimeng is also the deputy minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.
Mbalula said the ANC would have a focus on coalitions and Makhura will provide him with reports on it.
Makhura’s team will have to produce a report on coalitions within the next two weeks and it will be submitted to the National Working Committee, said Mbalula.
“What is our interest in coalitions? We want stability because coalitions have proven that they are quite unstable, they affect service delivery and we need to find solutions to this problem as the ANC.
“ We have said when we concluded our campaign (in the last elections) we will not get into coalitions at all costs. David Makhura’s team will brief us on that. What has happened since then, what is happening and what are our options,” said Mbalula.
He said Makhura’s team will hit the ground running and table their report to the NWC in the next two weeks.
The interest for the ANC was to ensure service delivery and stability in those municipalities.
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