The future of Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink, could be in the balance after recent public utterances by ActionSA and the ANC that negotiations were under way to oust the DA from power in the metro.
Brink, however, downplayed the imminent political move to topple the DA, saying he was not anxious about political speculation that a plan was being hatched to remove him. Instead, he was focused on the work at hand to deliver services to the people of Tshwane.
In a television interview this week, Brink said he was “not overtaken by anxiety”, and was “quite confident that this coalition has a good chance of surviving and that the offer we are making to the people of Tshwane is better than anyone’s offer”.
He also took stock of some of the achievements under his administration, mentioning inroads made in addressing the Hammanskraal water problem that had plagued the area for almost 20 years. Residents in the township have been promised clean water from next month.
Brink also cited progress made in terms of cleaning up the city’s streets, particularly in the townships.
He added that his administration had showed guards how to stand up to contractors who didn’t want to comply with performance standards.
“Our finances are looking better. We are now in a position to meet certain obligations. We have been paying an Eskom account for three months in a row,” he said.
Brink believed the coalition agreement in Tshwane was intact, citing that he had “a wonderful working relationship with the deputy mayor, Nasiphi Moya", an ActionSA deployee.
“The political speculation; the game, what this person says and what that person says; that cannot take the mayor’s eye off the ball. I am quite confident that we can pull this through and continue to make progress,” he said.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba, on the other hand, said discussions were in full swing with various party structures about the possibility of removing the DA in Tshwane.
He said his party was in consultation with structures on the ground, including its provincial executive committee in Gauteng, Tshwane regional executive committee, and the caucus in council.
Mashaba said ActionSA “cannot really be in an abusive relationship forever” with the DA.
Reacting to the news on X, DA’s Dean Macpherson, the minister for Public Works and Infrastructure, said: “This is only possible because ActionSA are now in a coalition with the EFF. The numbers don’t work without their support.”
During a media briefing last week, ANC Gauteng chairperson, Panyaza Lesufi, said there had been a surge from political parties in Tshwane who wanted the ANC to “come and rescue” the municipality.
Pretoria News