‘Kingmakers’ title now belongs to minority parties

Gauteng residents might have to live with the reality that minority parties in the province might take charge of all the municipalities in the province – as they have already done in Johannesburg.

With the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters still at loggerheads in their negotiations regarding their coalition, the minority will use this as an opportunity for both parties to vote for them until they sort their things out.

‘Kingmakers’

The kingmakers title, which was held by the EFF, seems to have changed hands and now belongs to minority parties – the Patriotic Alliance to be exact.

Currently, we have a speaker in Johannesburg whose party has only one seat in the council and a mayor whose party has three seats, something that has not happened before.

We also saw that among the 10 MMCs appointed is controversial businessman Kenny Kunene, a man once dubbed the “The Sushi King” and now turned politician.

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Agendas

We also have MMCs from parties such as the African Transformation Movement and the Patriotic Alliance. We have seen how the mayor, Thapelo Amad, has been called a stop-gap mayor until the ANC and EFF get their houses in order, fuelling suspicions that he would be used to further the agenda of those two parties.

R77 billion budget

ActionSA also raised concerns that the announcement of Amad’s mayoral committee validated its suspicion that his election was solely the result of the ANC aiming to lay its hands on Joburg’s R77 billion budget again, and for smaller political parties to gain access to patronage networks.

Are the minority really interested in making sure that the residents get services, or they are just in it for the power and the money? It is not that I am saying or suggesting they are incapable of governing.

However, the question which remains is: whose agenda will they be pushing? Can they deliver the most needed services in South Africa’s richest metro with most of them having little, to no, experience when it comes to government?

Gauteng premier and ANC Gauteng chair Panyaza Lesufi has also come out to say that they are coming for Ekurhuleni – the following one will be Tshwane – and all the other Gauteng municipalities, with the help of the EFF and the minorities.

This is despite their coalition agreements with the EFF not being concluded. It begs the question of who will be in charge of these municipalities when they come for them, because clearly, without an agreement between the ANC and EFF, none of these parties would allow the other to govern.

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Could minorities take charge

Are we likely to see the minorities again being in charge of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni until the negotiations are done?

We know that the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni are not in coalition any more, which leaves Tshwane the only one that will be a bit difficult to snatch.

Would it not have been better if ActionSA party leader Herman Mashaba agreed to the original plan by the ANC and EFF to vote for the ANC in Ekurhuleni, then vote with the ANC in Tshwane and, in return, they would vote for ActionSA in Johannesburg, than allowing this instability in Gauteng to continue?

One thing is for sure, Gauteng residents will continue to suffer from the instability caused by the politicians in the province.

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