Publications
The resignation of chief whip Khetha Shandu and oversight chairperson Pieter Henning in Ekurhuleni municipality has left the DA vulnerable, with opposition parties baying for its blood.
Shandu, who was facing a motion of no confidence before Speaker Raymond Dhlamini collapsed the council sitting last week, resigned from his position and also as a councillor on Wednesday.
But in a new twist, the DA’s multiparty coalition partner ActionSA is now calling for the resignation of mayor Tania Campbell and all her members of the mayoral committee. ActionSA said Campbell and her MMCs failed the people of Ekurhuleni and must acknowledge their failures by resigning.
ActionSA's Gauteng chairperson Bongani Baloyi said the admission by Henning that there was no service delivery in Ekurhuleni should be shouldered by all, including Campbell. He said the least they can do is resign and allow his party to lead the multiparty coalition government.
In his resignation letter, Shandu cited personal reasons as the motive. Henning said his health deteriorated and his family life suffered tremendously in the past 12 months because of work-related stress.
READ: ANC claims it will 'automatically' gain power following success in Ekurhuleni
He complained of the total lack of service delivery for the people of Ekurhuleni and the lack of support from any department in the area as some of the reasons that swayed him to resign. Henning painted a bleak picture of his party-led coalition government that suppressed him from rendering service delivery to the people.
“I could not fulfil my responsibilities as a ward councillor to my people,” he wrote.
Three weeks ago, minority parties tabled a motion of no confidence against Dhlamini and Shandu after they had declined an amendment to the rules governing the motion of no confidence against the mayor.
Opposition parties in Ekurhuleni wanted the rules to be amended to allow them to table another motion against Tania Campbell before the prescribed time frame of six months, which was amended in November.
READ: ActionSA closes rank over audio clip linking its leadership to Tau's ouster
Reacting to the resignation of the two DA councillors, ActionSA said this was indicative of the implosion currently taking place as a result of the DA’s failures to lead coalitions.
“The resignation of Henning and Shandu further strengthens ActionSA’s belief that the DA-led coalition government has failed to address the decline in service delivery in Ekurhuleni,” added ActionSA.
We, therefore, ask that executive mayor Tania Campbell and her mayoral committee accept their failure and resign in favour of better leadership within that multiparty coalition,” said Baloyi.
He averred ActionSA already left the coalition government in the City of Ekurhuleni in November last year due to concerns about Campbell and her executive’s inability to improve service delivery.
Baloyi mentioned:
“For too long the residents of the City of Ekurhuleni have been let down by consecutive governments - including the current administration - and ActionSA will continue to ensure that these governments are held accountable for their failures,” he said.
The call by ActionSA has further indicated how the multiparty coalition government has collapsed. Last week, ActionSA accused the DA leadership of deserting Mpho Phalatse to fight on her own in Joburg to retain her position as the mayor.
However, DA leader John Steenhuisen dismissed the allegations and accused ActionSA of hatching a plan to dethrone them.
Meanwhile Patriotic Alliance’s deputy president Kenny Kunene was sworn in as the councillor at the Joburg municipal council on Thursday afternoon.
City Press has learnt that Kunene is eyeing his party’s mayoral candidate and also hopes to be the premier candidate during the 2024 national election.
