EFF claims of Deputy Mayor costs are deliberately misleading 

16 January 2024

ActionSA takes note of the EFF’s deliberate mischaracterisation of the advent of the position of Deputy Mayor in the City of Tshwane in relation to the financial position of the municipality.

It is also worth noting that the EFF holds positions of Deputy Mayors in their hypocritical coalitions in KwaZulu-Natal with the ANC and participate in coalitions like Nelson Mandela Bay in which Deputy Mayor positions exist. The EFF’s manufactured outrage on this matter is thinly-guised politicking.

With this said, the concern relating to Tshwane’s financial position is well documented and valid. However, it must be noted that the Deputy Mayor comes from within the Mayoral Committee and is therefore additional responsibilities added onto the duties of a Member of the Mayoral Committee. As such it is not a new position and to suggest otherwise is disingenuous.

Having dealt with the substantive matter, it is necessary to dismiss any statement of the EFF purporting to care for public funding with the contempt deserving for a party that has been proven to have been funded by the proceeds of the VBS bank scandal. Just this week, EFF MP Vuyani Pambo was pictured on social media with state capture implicated, Edwin Sodi, whose role in looting the funds for the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment plant are well documented.

The City of Tshwane operates a R47 billion budget. The notion that a Deputy Mayor, from within the pool of MMCs, can have a material impact is obscene. However, the reality is that a Deputy Mayor with the attributes of Dr Nasiphi Moya, and with the powerful delegations around service delivery, can make a massive difference in the lives of the residents of Tshwane.

It is ActionSA who was instrumental in leading the multi-party coalition in its obligations to municipal workers, it is ActionSA which has fought for the resolution on the Hammanskraal Water Crisis and it is ActionSA that ensured that the Kratos Unsolicited Bid went no further. A mature assessment of ActionSA’s role within the coalition, and within the City of Tshwane, would suggest that the advent of an ActionSA Deputy Mayor would be something for residents to celebrate.

Perhaps this is the cause of the EFF’s chest pains?

Issued by Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson, ActionSA, 16 January 2024