Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
After the Democratic Alliance (DA) withdrew its support for the ANC-led unity government in Gauteng, the executive announced by Premier Panyaza Lesufi this week could be vulnerable to motions of no confidence brought against it, risking further instability in South Africa’s economic hub.
Without an outright majority, the provincial government may struggle to push through laws or budget proposals it brings to the legislature.
The political parties in the Gauteng government — the ANC (28), Patriotic Alliance (two) Inkatha Freedom Party (one) and Rise Mzansi (one) collectively hold only 32 of the 80 seats in the Gauteng legislature, far below what they need to govern unencumbered.
The DA has 22 seats, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 11 seats, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has eight, ActionSA three, Freedom Front Plus two, while Build One South Africa and the African Christian Democratic Party have one seat each.
The parties in government can take comfort from the fact that there is no likelihood of the EFF and MK party forming a coalition government with the DA, which has expressed its unwillingness to work with either of them.
But drawing from past experiences in metros such as Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, Lesufi’s cabinet is in for a rough and frustrating ride trying to run the province.
Announcing his cabinet on Wednesday night, Lesufi said the ANC in Gauteng accepted without condition the outcome of the 29 May national and provincial elections and the desire of voters for all political parties to work together to run the province. He said in doing so, parties must be mature and sober and avoid taking hardline stances.
“Openness, transparency, compromise and communication should be the hallmark of our administration,” the premier said.
“As I said during my acceptance speech at the legislature, we’ve been asked to work together. To work together, we will do. We’ve been asked to combine our thoughts for a better Gauteng. To combine our thoughts, we will do, together.”
He announced the IFP’s Bonginkosi Dlamini as the member of the executive council for e-government, while Rise Mzansi’s Vuyiswa Ramokgopa will take up agriculture and rural development and the Patriotic Alliance’s Sheila Mary Peters is the new MEC for the environment.
Jacob Mamabolo, from ANC alliance partner the South African Communist Party, will be the MEC for infrastructure and development and cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
The other six posts will go to ANC members, namely Lebogang Maile for treasury and economic development, Matome Chiloane for education and sport, arts, culture and recreation, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko for health, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela for roads and transport, Faith Mazibuko for social development and Tasneem Motara for human settlements.
Lesufi said no party would be left behind unless it chose not to be part of the government of provincial unity working to build a better Gauteng.
“Our mandate is simple: crime, corruption, and lawlessness, your time is up. Our mandate is simple; municipalities, play your part, we will play our part,” he said. “Johannesburg CBD, Alexandra township, Sethokga hostel, Makause informal settlement, we are ready to make you beautiful again.”
Hours before Lesufi unveiled his cabinet, the DA’s Gauteng leader, Solly Msimanga, announced that after weeks of often fractious negotiations, the party had declined to take up posts in the provincial unity government on the ANC’s terms.
The main bone of contention was the number of MEC positions the ANC was offering to the DA. Out of the 10 available positions, the ANC wanted to take seven and offered the DA three, while the latter insisted on proportional representation in allocating the posts.
Msimanga said the offer made to the DA was both unfair and unreasonable and that the party would not be co-opted into government, “as we are meant to be power-sharing partners”.
He said the ANC’s Gauteng leadership had not negotiated along the principles of the statement of intent that both parties had signed at national level last month.
“If both parties were negotiating in good faith, the situation might have been different now. That was not the case, and the DA cannot be a part of a government that does not value fairness, proportionality and principles in the same way we do,” Msimanga said.
The first sitting of the Gauteng provincial legislature on 14 June saw the DA and the ANC voting together to install Lesufi as premier, the ANC’s Morakane Mosupyoe as speaker and the DA’s Refiloe Nt’sekhe as deputy speaker. After the collapse of talks, the DA instructed Nt’sekhe to resign from her position.
Earlier this week DA federal council chair Helen Zille said on the sidelines of a media briefing that it had been “very difficult” to try to form a government with the ANC in Gauteng, adding that if the party did not want to work with hers, it should say so “to save us a lot of effort”.
Zille said at the time that if both parties agreed on a government of unity in Gauteng, they would consider a deal to govern all the hung municipalities in the province together.
She told the media briefing that the DA would be comfortable sitting in the opposition benches should the ANC fail to comply with the statement of intent signed by all the parties in the government of national unity.
“We do not mind being an opposition. It’s our comfort zone. It’s not a threat, it’s just a fact. It’s just a fact here that we will be in opposition if the agreements that we signed are not honoured, which is a totally rational position to take,” Zille said.
“We know that the next election is two years from now, which is around the corner; we will see what happens.”
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said the DA leadership had misinterpreted the statement of intent.
“We are unable to accede to the DA’s latest proposals, as we have indicated throughout negotiations. The DA is not the only party we are negotiating with on the setting up of the government of provincial unity,” he said on Wednesday, ahead of Lesufi announcing the provincial executive.
“The ANC reiterates its firmly held conviction that the task of setting up government in the economic heartland of our country is both urgent and overdue. It would be responsible to continue with this impasse.”
Gauteng EFF chair Nkululeko Dunga applauded what he called the courage displayed by the ANC in the province, saying it had stood up to the DA’s bullying and sense of entitlement to positions.
But he said the EFF was unimpressed by the recycling of ANC leaders into government positions despite the dissatisfaction expressed by the people of Gauteng at the ballot on 29 May.
This, he said, was a confirmation that the problems of unemployment, crime, ailing infrastructure, a failing economy, a housing backlog as well as poor healthcare and a shortage of education spaces would prevail.