EFF, ActionSA reject roles in Ekurhuleni after cabinet reshuffle

Ekurhuleni is at a tipping point after coalition partners, the EFF and ActionSA, rejected invitations to join ANC councillor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s mayoral committee. In a move that cracks open the door to fresh coalition instability and further destabilises governance in the metro ahead of municipal elections later this year, the two allies turned down “peripheral” posts in the unitygovernment. Analysts warned the multiparty coalition running the metro is at risk of disintegrating after Xhakaza reshuffled his cabinet, stacking it with his ANC comrades who took up five crucial portfolios, while diminishing the EFF’s influence in his mayoral committee.

Xhakaza on Wednesday gave three councillors from the EFF and ActionSA just 12 hours to join his mayoral committee after they failed to attend a scheduled swearing-in ceremony. The ultimatum follows a late-night cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday. “They are given 12 hours to avail themselves, failing which the metro leadership will take a decision on what should happen next,” acting mayoral spokesperson Ramatolo Tlotleng told Sowetan sister publication Business Day yesterday.

Xhakaza defended the decision to reshuffle his team, saying it was not taken lightly and is aimed at transforming the metro’seconomy. Regarding the EFF and ActionSA councillors, Xhakaza said: “We are giving them 12 hours to present an apology for not showing up. If they don’t show up we will have to be decisive because our people want us to work.

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The people of Ekurhuleni are not interested in political instability, internal disputes and other issues. They want us to work. They want us to fix the municipality.” The Ekurhuleni council has 224 seats, with the ANC holding 86, the DA 65, EFF 31, ActionSA 15, Freedom Front Plus 8, IFP 2, ACDP 2 and other smaller parties jointly holding 10 seats.

While the ANC leads with 86 seats, it still falls short of the requisite 113 to govern alone. The present coalition is made up of the ANC, EFF, ActionSA and PA, totalling 136 seats. Control of the Ekurhuleni metro has changed hands from coalitions led by the ANC to the DA, AIC and back to the ANC since 2016 due to what has been attributed to the instability of coalitions.

The reshuffle saw Xhakaza’s ANC comrades taking up five crucial positions including finance, roads and transport, and utility services, while diminishing the EFF’s presence in his cabinet from five portfolios to two. He also included an ActionSA councillor Xolani Khumalo, in his reshuffled cabinet, but the Herman Mashaba-led party rejected the offer, as did the EFF.

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