“THERE is a coordinated attack on the coalition governments of all three Gauteng metros, orchestrated by the ANC and supported by its small proxy parties.”
This was said by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen during a virtual media briefing on Wednesday, 24 August, giving an update on the coalition government in Gauteng metros.
He said given its track record of greed, corruption and extraction, the ANC was not going to let go without a dirty fight.
He added that mayors of the three metros, who all happened to be DA mayors, were being targeted simultaneously in an effort to destabilise these governments and let the ANC in through the back door.
“In Tshwane, the ANC has submitted a motion of no confidence in Mayor Randall Williams while in Joburg, its allies, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and African Independent Congress, have done the same to Mayor Mpho Phalatse. We understand there are similar plans afoot for Mayor Tania Campbell in Ekurhuleni,” he said.
He said this was the work of an ANC that found itself cut off from its entire patronage network in these metros.
Steenhuisen said these coordinated attacks, on their mayors and speakers, were nothing short of a coup attempt by the corrupt.
“But this goes beyond our mayors, speakers and these metro coalitions. Because what the ANC is attacking is the very idea of a coalition alternative in South Africa,” he said, adding that by trying to scupper these governments, they were attacking their country’s chance to move on beyond ANC dominance.
“But I want to tell you that this project will not fail. It is too important to fail. We will not allow the ANC and its proxy parties to sabotage the future of our country,” he said.
Steenhuisen said the coalition governments were working, and they would not allow the momentum to be broken.
Highlighting some of what he called success, he said in Tshwane, 171 new Metro police officers were added to the city’s law enforcement.
He said the city had also ramped up fines for cable theft and vandalism, and R10 million had been allocated to its Metro Police Department to fight cable theft.
In Joburg, he said, there was an equally long list of successes, and it is because of them and commitment shown by Phalatse to restore the shine to the City of Gold, that she was being targeted and bullied.
“In Ekurhuleni, the Metro Police Department gained an addition 470 officers over the past year, and there have been increases in budget allocations for electrical maintenance, water infrastructure and road repairs.”
Steenhuisen said Many didn’t give them a chance, but these governments were working and showing South Africans a clear path away from ANC ruin and towards a better future.
