Response of the multi-party coalition team to the damaging claims of ActionSA
9 February 2022
The multi-party coalition negotiation team expresses its profound concern at ActionSA’s unilateral media conference yesterday, which violates aspects of the coalition agreement, and rebuffs the established conflict resolution mechanisms.
The attempts by ActionSA to bring the EFF into the Gauteng governments has been a feature of the coalition discussions from the start. All other parties have stringently rejected these attempts.
Just over a week ago, ActionSA declared a dispute on the matter, and its leader, Herman Mashaba, gave the Coalition Oversight Group 48 hours to meet to resolve the dispute, thus invoking the coalition’s dispute resolution mechanism. Most parties sent their leaders to this crucial meeting – from which Herman Mashaba, ActionSA leader, absented himself.
The Coalition Oversight Group reiterated that, under no circumstances, would the EFF be brought into our Gauteng coalitions. Despite this agreement, and without taking the Coalition partners into its confidence, ActionSA convened a media conference yesterday morning.The other parties in the coalition regard this as a further attempt to pressure the coalition into admitting the EFF into our governing arrangements.
In addition, statements made at the media conference also misrepresent the facts, and wrongly claim that the Democratic Alliance approached ActionSA to facilitate the EFF’s entry into our coalition governments. The DA merely asked ActionSA, given their good relations with the EFF, to establish how EFF intended voting in the election of Committee chairpersons in Johannesburg.
It was stated clearly then, and has been repeated several times, that this did not imply that the coalition was prepared to bring the EFF into our governing arrangements in any way whatsoever. In its attempt to bring the EFF into the governments of Johannesburg and Tshwane, ActionSA has argued that this is the way to stabilise our minority government in Ekurhuleni.
The coalition does not regard this as a valid reason to compromise on bringing the EFF into government and has resolved so repeatedly. The coalition governments in Tshwane and Johannesburg are stable. In Ekurhuleni the coalition partners have put in place mechanisms to ensure as much stability as possible.The partners are committed to serve the residents of these metro municipalities.
We recognise that there are different coalition configurations in other provinces involving a range of parties including the EFF. We also understand that there are different dynamics in different provinces and we respect their right to function in terms of their own arrangements and we require the same respect to be accorded to the Gauteng coalitions.
The coalition calls on ActionSA to abide by the decisions of the Coalition Oversight group and the other parties in the coalition, and help us get down to the business of delivering services in Gauteng municipalities.
Issued by Richard Newton, 9 February 2022
