Johnathan Paoli
Tshwane Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink has lashed back at the African National Congress (ANC)’s intention to file a motion of no confidence against him, saying the party is doing so in retaliation to his fight against corruption in the metro executive.
Brink’s response comes after the ANC filed the motion of no-confidence last Friday saying service delivery in Tshwane has deteriorated under the current Mayor’s tenure.
The mayor lashed back on social media on Wednesday and said the ANC was attempting to return the metro “back to the days of looting and internal mismanagement with no consequences”.
Brink said the motion was caused by the implementation of new performance requirements on a particular waste removal contract.
“There were very strong indications that businesses with links to the ANC in the municipal council don’t want to comply with those standards and that their interests being threatened are big enough for them to want to remove the Mayor in order to serve their business interests,” he said.
He said there was an active agenda against effective service delivery in the metro, and that a “tightening up” of measures and holding senior officials accountable was fundamentally necessary in turning the city around.
ActionSA on the other hand, despite condemning the DA and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)’s decision to join the GNU, has joined them among other parties, in blocking a motion of no confidence against Brink by the ANC.
Joint Caucus Chair of the Multi-Party Government, Jacqui Uys said on Thursday that the motion was not about service delivery, but represented an attempt by the ANC to secure its interests in waste collection contracts.
Currently the Tshwane coalition includes the Republican Conference Tshwane, Patriotic Alliance, Congress of the People, PAC, GOOD, African Transformation Movement and the AIC.
“We will not allow the ANC to undo all the progress we’ve made in the name of self-interest,” Uys said.
Uys, who is also the Finance MMC for the city, last week accused the regional ANC secretary, George Matjila, of orchestrating dissent because he was “upset” by the strict rules governing a recently awarded waste management tender.
The tender in question was introduced on July 15 and the City has been facing resistance against its implementation from disgruntled service providers who didn’t meet the requirements.
ActionSA caucus leader Jackie Mathabathe said such a motion posed a significant threat to the stability of the coalition government.
“We view this move by the ANC as an opportunistic ploy to disrupt the progress that has been made by the coalition government in delivering much-needed services to the residents of Tshwane,” he said.
Brink was installed as the executive in March last year to lead the multiparty government under the DA with coalition partners that include ActionSA, the DA, FF-Plus, IFP and ACDP.
INSIDE METROS
