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2019 drew to a close with a scramble for the City of Tshwane.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) tried to hold on to the metro after losing Johannesburg to its nemesis, the ANC, while the ANC and the EFF attempted to muscle in and take over the city’s reins.
The new year kicked off with the DA firing the first warning shots.
In a show of force, the embattled party on Monday maintained that – despite 2019 ending with Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa embroiled in a sex scandal and exposed for possibly interfering in administrative issues in a leaked audio recording – the DA was, on merit, still the best option for residents of the metro.
The party said that when it took over administration in 2016 the previous administration (ANC) had suffered consecutive years of deficit in the operation budget resulting in a dire cash flow situation.
“There was a R1.3 billion operational budget deficit,” said member of the City of Tshwane’s mayoral committee on finance, Mare-Lise Fourie.
She said, as a result, the party in the 2015/16 financial year drew up a financial plan that has made headway.
“The cash ratio – the money in the bank available to cover operational expenditure, which in a norm/healthy city – should cover operational expenditure for between one and three months was in the 2015/16 financial year, when we took over, only sufficient to cover just 15 days. In the 2018/19 financial year we have managed to up this amount to cover one and a half months,” said Fourie.
The DA led administration has also been able to ensure that the metro does not owe any service providers money and is expecting yet another unqualified audit report barring any historic issues being uncovered during the audit.
“Contrary to the non-facts being peddled by MEC for human settlements, urban planning and Cogta, Lebogang Maile, we do not owe service providers any money. We don’t owe Eskom or any other service provider. In fact, we pay our smaller service providers twice a month – mid-month and at the end of every month,” said Fourie.
In December, Maile said the city experienced administrative and service delivery challenges, adding that the Gauteng government was planning to place the city under administration.
DA Gauteng leader John Moodey, who convened the press briefing on Monday afternoon at the DA’s headquarters in Nkululeko House, Johannesburg, rubbished Maile’s utterances as being tantamount to a modern day coup attempt.
Be that as it may, Maile cited serious problems facing the city, including the Hammanskraal water crisis, the repeated collapse of council, a “flagrant disregard” of the Municipal Financial Management Act and an increase in “unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and the irregular appointment of senior managers”.
Acting mayor Abel Tau attributed the water crisis in Hammanskraal to years of lack of maintenance under the ANC’s administration as well as flooding that washed away supply pipes.
He also attributed the lack of service delivery to load shedding because “the switching on and off of electricity has caused tens of millions worth of damage to substations” meaning that operational funds have had to be shifted around to cover these costs.
The more straight-talking Moodey, however, credited Maile’s utterances to being a result of “the ANC’s attempt to take over the reins at all cost”.
“Unlike the ANC we are not trying to hold on to power at all costs, we are trying to provide the best services to residents in all the cities we govern. Even where we are the opposition we seek to hold those in power to account and do it to our best ability,” said Moodey.
Sex scandal
The DA was plunged into turmoil in Tshwane after a recording of Mokgalapa and his roads and infrastructure MMC Sheila Senkubuge was leaked on social media.
The recording embroiled Mokgalapa in a sex scandal and exposed unsavoury remarks made by the mayor towards his colleagues and possible interference in administrative issues by Mokgalapa, who is now on voluntary special leave.
Although the DA referred the matter to its federal legal commission, it was accused by many for delaying the release of its findings until the ANC and the EFF tabled and passed a motion of no confidence in Mokgalapa and speaker Katlego Mathebe.
Senkubunge resigned following the leaked recording.
Moodey said the delay in releasing the finding was due to party policy “which stipulated that in a situation like this, where the same matter had been referred to council’s ethics committee, we await that ruling before making our own findings”.
Although the DA believes it is has managed to turn around the financial fortunes of the city, its failure to work well with its alliance partners and act swiftly or decisively against possible wrong doing might lead to its undoing.
Unlike Johannesburg, where the ANC held a majority, the DA has the majority in Tswhane. However, the manner in which Mokgalapa handled the party’s relation with the EFF left a bad taste in the red berets’ mouth with the party vowing that it would vote with the ANC to ensure his removal.
Had the DA acted decisively over the recording by Mokgalapa and replaced him with someone more favorable with the EFF such as Tau, who is the current acting mayor, this may have resulted in a rebuilding of relations with the red berets and possibly the retaining of power by the DA. However this has not been the case and the party now stands to lose the metro.
Internal differences
Although there was a show of force and an attempt to show a united front by the DA on Monday, cracks were also exposed with internal differences again threatening to bring down the party.
Helen Zille’s return last year as federal chairperson was followed by the resignation of DA leader Mmusi Maimane and Athol Trollip, who had been a mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay metro and was federal chair of the DA.
Zille continues to be a decisive figure, causing a stir in the beginning of the year with yet more racially charged tweets. She recently tweeted that white people not being called “Africans” was part of a “campaign” to “demonise minorities”.
These tweets were labelled “disappointing” by the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial leader, Zwakele Mncwango.
During the press briefing on Monday, Moodey also distanced himself from Zille’s posts, saying leaders ought to carry themselves in a manner that did not shroud the party in unwanted negative publicity.
“It is incumbent upon me that I carry myself in a manner that does not paint the party in a bad light said Moodey.
He added that although Zille was entitled to freedom of speech, he did not “subscribe to Helen’s recent tweets”.
On DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille’s tweets, Moody says: “As a leader one has to be very careful of how one conducts themselves... I don’t subscribe to Helen’s recent tweets”#DAbriefing pic.twitter.com/yxyq5bFc64
— Juniour Khumalo (@JKwritingz) January 6, 2020
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