Will DA abstain from voting for new mayor in Ekurhuleni?

While residents of Ekurhuleni are waiting to find out who their next mayor will be, the DA in the city is calling for the dissolution of council and fresh elections.

DA calls for fresh elections in Ekurhuleni

The party’s caucus leader Tania Campbell said the DA believes electing a new mayor in the current administration would not help.

“The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Ekurhuleni is renewing our call for the council to be dissolved and fresh elections to take place as we believe this is the only way to rescue Ekurhuleni,” Campbell said.

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The party refused to clarify whether their members would abstain from the vote or support a different candidate.

However, Campbell said the DA saw no other way to ensure the municipality is back on its feet than to accept electing a new government that would replace the ANC-EFF coalition.

“We have already witnessed the widescale collapse of service delivery under the watch of the ANC/EFF coalition. We believe the election of a new mayor tomorrow will not be enough to undo the damage already done by the so-called ‘people’s government,” Campbell said.

ActionSA, which spearheaded the campaign to remove Sivuyile Ngodwana as mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni, was locked in meetings discussing their preferred candidate.

Political chess

Meanwhile, the ANC in Ekurhuleni said their posture was being determined through the provincial leadership of the ANC in consultation with the region. The ANC in the region declined to comment on who they would support for the mayoral candidacy.

It has in the past said it believes the majority party in the council should be given the position of mayor. But the EFF arrangement with the provincial leadership left the ANC on weaker groundband a mayor from a minority party.

The EFF declined to comment on who they would support.

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