Only councillors’ votes can dissolve the eThekwini Municipality, not a picket and a petition, ActionSA stressed ahead of a picket by the DA, scheduled to take place on Saturday.
ActionSA provincial chairperson Zwakele Mncwango has accused the DA of not engaging political parties represented in the eThekwini council regarding its motion to dissolve the council.
He said it was particularly problematic that the DA had refused to involve the EFF.
On Saturday, DA federal leader John Steenhuisen, provincial leader Francois Rodgers, premier candidate mayor Chris Pappas and DA eThekwini leader Thabani Mthethwa, along with other DA members, are expected to picket outside the Durban City Hall.
The party has also called on eThekwini ratepayers and residents to sign an online petition with the same message in the hope of forcing an early election, which would give residents the opportunity to elect a new local government.
“Water and power outages have become a norm, and this cannot continue to be your reality. You deserve better!” read the message.
The DA in KZN has been fighting to rescue eThekwini from further collapse and service delivery failure.
ActionSA accused the DA of wasting time with “cheap politicking” tactics instead of engaging all councillors to negotiate a better solution and strategy to dissolve the municipality.
Mncwango said leaders of certain opposition parties in the city and the ratepayers’ association had been engaging on a WhatsApp group and there had been an agreement to dissolve the city, with the DA spearheading the process.
“We resolved that we should meet. A meeting was convened where parties, including the EFF, were invited along with the media. However, the DA did not come as they preferred the meeting to be private at their offices,” he said.
Mncwango said the DA did not want to engage the EFF as it had its own agenda against the party, which had blinded them during this process.
“The DA is clearly not serious about removing the current leadership. They will show their seriousness once they engage all parties, including the EFF and ANC,” he said.
Picketing at the City Hall will not serve the purpose. It is the councillors that they need.
In December last year, the DA urged individual councillors in the ANC and EFF who saw and acknowledged that the city was on the verge of collapse to support the motion.
At the time, the party said it was going to send letters to all opposition parties represented in council, except for the EFF and the NFP, to discuss the proposal and get their backing.
On Thursday, the DA’s eThekwini caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, told The Witness they started engaging other parties last year and will continue to engage those that are willing to engage.
“We sent out invitations. Some responded and some did not. Obviously, our position is that all parties with the people’s interest must put aside their differences and work together to support this motion,” he said.
Mthethwa did not specify whether the EFF had been contacted as yet. Municipality speaker Thabani Nyawose confirmed that the motion will be tabled at the next council meeting. As of Thursday’s afternoon, the DA’s petition had more than 4 000 supporters.
The EFF was not available for comment at the time of going to print.
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