The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it does not want to work with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to retain Gauteng municipalities because of their ideological differences with the red berets.
The DA’s Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga told the publication that previous arrangements with the EFF in the province had proven disastrous.
The party said that it had chosen to rather work with other coalition partners as it tries to maintain its grip on the province’s metros, including Johannesburg.
The DA emerged victorious on Tuesday when the Johannesburg High Court declared that mayor Mpho Phalatse’s removal late last month was unlawful.
However, the main challenge lies in council, where some of the party’s coalition partners like the Patriotic Alliance appear to have broken rank and are now siding with the African National Congress (ANC).
Phalatse has proposed a working relationship with the EFF but her boss, Msimanga, said that they should rather take opposition benches than partner up with the red berets.
“We previously partnered with the EFF. It made things very unstable in a sense that if they wanted to have land invasion taking place in Lenasia and the surrounding areas, Herman Mashaba, who was the mayor, turned a blind eye to that and then it cost us to lose wards in Lenasia, as an example.”
In the meantime, the ANC has expressed confidence that it will reclaim the City of Joburg in the next few weeks.
Its regional secretary, Sasabona Manganye, told Eyewitness News that they now had enough numbers in council to topple the DA-led coalition.
-EWN
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