IT'S ONLY been less than two weeks since the formation of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa and the parties are already at loggerheads over the City of Joburg.
ActionSA has accused its alliance partner, the Democratic Alliance (DA), of refusing to put the interests of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa and the residents of Joburg ahead of its own "narrow political interests".
This comes after the DA allegedly withdrew support from ActionSA's bid to have the City of Joburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda removed through a motion of no confidence.
This led to ActionSA being forced to withdraw its motion of no confidence, which was scheduled for Thursday, 31 August.
ActionSA chairman Micheal Beaumont said: "After committing to talks about Joburg on the sidelines of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, the DA has refused to attend engagements about a proposal that would win back Joburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Knysna and various municipalities across the country for the parties of the Charter."
He said during the Multi-Party Charter negotiations, it was unanimously agreed that membership needed to be expanded to give the Charter the votes it required to win a majority in 2024.
"In the spirit of building a broad opposition to the ANC and EFF, talks with the Patriotic Alliance (PA) resulted in them demonstrating their willingness to provide the required votes to remove Gwamanda and pave the way for parties in the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa to demonstrate this first success in the project of building momentum to 2024," he said.
ALSO READ | Thabo's nap turns deadly!
Beaumont said the PA had committed to bringing their seats to the arrangement in Joburg and numerous other municipalities across the country, requesting only to retain two MMCs in Joburg.
"Rather than embracing this in accordance with the agreement made during the Multi-Party Charter negotiations, letters were issued to party leaders on Saturday confirming that the DA would not engage in talks, would not work with the PA and would propose an amendment to the motion of no confidence to propose the dissolution of the council," said Beaumont.
He said that within minutes of receiving these letters, it was apparent that they had been provided to the media simultaneously.
"This notion of a new motion to dissolve the Joburg Council must be dismissed as the stunt that it is," said Beaumont.
Meanwhile, DA chairman in Gauteng Fred Nel said during the Joburg City Council meeting on Thursday that the party will move for an amendment to the motion of no confidence filed against the mayor.
"The amendment will call for the motion to be postponed until 2 November, when two years have elapsed, and the council will be legally entitled to dissolve itself," he said.
