Samwu says ANC coalition partners must unite to oust Patriotic Alliance

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) wants the ANC’s coalition partners in Johannesburg to band together to oust the Patriotic Alliance (PA) from the Government of Local Unity (GLU).

This after the PA brought an urgent interdict application to stop the ANC from terminating its agreement with the party. While the PA’s application was struck off the roll, the Johannesburg High Court had the ANC concede it could not simply terminate the coalition and it had to honour the terms of its agreement.

This lead to both parties releasing statements in which they claimed to have walked away victorious, but the union insisted it wants the PA out of the City Council.

SAMWU spokesperson Karabo Ramahuba said the city is better off in the hands of opposition parties, than being run with the PA in the coalition.

“What we would ask the ANC is to engage with the partners of the GLU to end this toxic relationship.”

According to PA spokesperson Charles Cilliers, the urgent matter was removed from the court roll on the basis that the ANC denied in court that it wanted to end the coalition, despite he said, having already declared it had terminated the agreement.

The spat between the organisations came as members of SAMWU accused the Patriotic Alliance and its leader Gayton McKenzie of capturing the city’s housing department and the Joburg Property Company (JPC). The state company is under investigation for allegations of corruption and mismanagement implicating CEO Helen Botes and her CFO, Imraan Bhamjee.

McKenzie’s alleged influence over board decisions and appointments at the firm were at the centre of allegations brought by SAMWU whistleblowers who said they were being silenced at his behest.

“We will engage the leadership of the city to say that notwithstanding the court’s decision, but we are honestly of the view that the PA must not go back into government.”

Behind the grand power battles of the city council was the suffering of ordinary workers, he added, and the ANC could do better running the City without them.

“They may come back into the marriage, but we feel that we can do better without them. For us as workers, it’s not about politics, it is about labour related issues.”

According to Ramahuba and several workers who have spoken to the Citizen in past reports, employees who spoke out about corruption at JPC were subjected to bullying and intimidation. Allegations were made that the PA exerted undue influence over the board and executives in the company, forcing those witnessing irregular appointments and financial mismanagement into silence.

As the battle rages on, the ANC said it was humbled by the Johannesburg High Court’s decision.

The PA also sought to interdict Mayor Geoff Makhubo from filling a vacant post in the department of economic development. It asked the court to declare the appointment of Cllr Lawrence Khoza in this position unlawful, but these requests were rejected by the court.

According to the ANC regional spokesperson, Sasabona Manganye, the reason the party wanted to end its coalition agreement with the PA was that the ideological outlooks of two parties were ‘poles apart’.

“This is so because the PA failed, to this day, to draw a line between party and state. In all its dealings, in the short space of time that it was in this coalition agreement, the PA conflated the party and state line. To the PA, this line does not exist, said Manganye.

“We informed the court that the PA’s persistence that the Executive Mayor should appoint Pastor Saul (Ashley Sauls) as the MMC for economic development was against section 60 of the Structures Act and therefore illegal. The appointment of MMC’s remains the exclusive provision of the Executive Mayor and not of any political party.”

• Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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