An “unholy alliance” or a mere coincidence of parties choosing to put service delivery in Nelson Mandela Bay ahead of party interests?
Though the ANC and DA deny having formed a pact, they set tongues wagging this week when together they rammed through a number of items in the council they had previously locked horns on — even frustrating some of their smaller allies in the process.
Among those was the suspension of economic development boss Anele Qaba and the appointment of the Housing Development Agency (HDA) as an implementing agent to help the city spend its grant to upgrade informal settlements.
They also teamed up to approve Part D water tariffs, which means water wasters will be charged additional penalties for using more than 9kl a month.
The ANC also agreed to a recommendation from the DA that those who use less than 9kl a month receive a slight reprieve by being charged under tariff B rates instead of tariff C.
The parties were at pains to explain the reasons for their decisions.
But for long-time arch enemies in the council, this collaboration raised eyebrows among some of the smaller parties, which have accused them of forming an unofficial partnership.
“I have been calling it the unholy matrimony,” DOP councillor and budget and treasury political head Tukela Zumani said this week.
“All the items that were passed recently [at council] meetings have been passed because the DA voted with the ANC.”
UDM spokesperson Yongama Zigebe said the alliance displayed at recent council meetings was surprising.
“For most of us, the united front between the DA and the ANC was surprising and you could tell from the arrogance of the ANC that they no longer needed any of their [coalition] partners because the DA has got their back,” Zigebe said.
He said watching all this playing out at council meetings was a bitter pill to swallow.
“We don’t know what their end game is but perhaps they are preparing for an executive committee [Exco] which is said to be befalling the city soon,” he said.
The idea of a power-sharing deal between the ANC and DA was first mooted about three months ago, when the Civil Society Coalition — comprising business, civil society and the clergy — pitched the idea of both parties running the metro as an executive committee.
This would mean the mayor would no longer select those carrying out an oversight role for the different departments in the metro, and that the two parties would have an equal number of seats on the committee.
Though it is believed both the ANC and DA regional and provincial bosses were keen on the proposal, it is understood that the DA later refused, saying it had no appetite to save the ANC.
GOOD councillor and political head of safety and security, Lawrence Troon, said: “There is something very wrong going on between the ANC and DA and it has been going on for a while now, but the DA is going to outmanoeuvre the ANC,” Troon said.
DA caucus leader Rano Kayser rubbished the accusations, saying the DA had no appetite to rescue the ANC.
“There is no working relationship between the ANC, informally or formally between the ANC and the DA.
“Items that the DA agreed to pass were passed with amendments made from the DA,” Kayser said.
He said the DA only agreed to pass the 2022/2023 annual budget on condition there would be an early adjustment budget.
“With regard to the recent council meeting, all parties voted on the items.
“There is no formal or informal relationship, there is no mandate, there is no appetite,” Kayser said.
He also denied meeting with ANC leaders to discuss council business before meetings.
And as the smaller parties fume over the two parties — which each hold 48 out of 120 council seats — DA federal council chair Helen Zille was back in the Bay this week for coalition discussions.
“Talks are ongoing, that is all I am prepared to say,” she said.
In respect of talk her party was working with the ANC, she said: “We vote on the individual merits of each issue that comes before the council. This has nothing to do with what the ANC does.
“And we are not working with the ANC either officially or unofficially."
Insiders said Zille met with smaller parties at the DA’s headquarters at Greenacres Office Park on Wednesday, which signals that the party was not ruling out the possibility of trying to pull together a coalition with smaller parties.
“She gave us a few minutes to decide how we want to proceed — do we want to negotiate as a collective and be entitled to 23% of positions, or as individual parties?
“We took a moment to decide and decided to negotiate as individual parties,” the insider said.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom and PAC councillor Bassie Kamana were not at the meeting.
The negotiations are set to officially kick off at the weekend.
ANC Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane said while he had not been made aware of any arrangement between the ANC and DA, he was not against working with all parties.
“There is no formal agreement but surely it is about common interests of citizens.
“As the ANC, we are open to work with every political party that has been elected to serve in that municipality, the aim is to stabilise that municipality and focus on service delivery,” Mabuyane said.
He said the ANC had heard the proposal to have an executive committee run the Bay.
“We might not even exclude a single party in that government of local unity and have all parties participating as they were elected, but the issue is, can we sit down around the table and begin to put the interests of people before all of us?” Mabuyane said.
“We have heard from ordinary people of Nelson Mandela Bay,” Mabuyane said.
“For them not to have water it is life and death, we have to have a government that is agile, that won’t be fighting about unnecessary selfish interests.”
ANC council chief whip Wandisile Jikeka chuckled when questioned about an alliance with the DA.
“There have only been talks like any other party, for example, when we had to pass the adjustment budget.
“The mayor met with the DA leadership to check where the areas we differ in were and where can we find each other on the budget,” Jikeka said.
He said the two parties had also found common ground on how to tackle the city’s water crisis.
“If there are issues of interest, the leadership of the DA has asked for a session with the mayor, and if we understand each other we move forward,” Jikeka said.
An ANC councillor, who did not want to be named, said the plan was to strip power away from the smaller parties.
“We have already started putting them aside, especially the so-called Bloc,” he said.
He said the DA was willing to work with the ANC and discussed their stance on items before debating in council.
“It will all be formalised later,” he said.
“For now there is no rush to label it but we are moving ahead with the [executive committee] model.”
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