Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has accepted Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s invitation to a meeting next week to resolve the city council dispute and wants to have the matter resolved quickly, SABC radio news reported on Thursday.
Briefing the media in Cape Town on Thursday, Mufamadi said he had invited provincial minister Richard Dyantyi and mayor Helen Zille to attend a meeting next week on Wednesday.
The aim was to promote a ”meeting of minds” and find a ”harmonious solution” to the problem.
Dyantyi — who is the provincial government and housing minister — plans to strip Zille of her executive powers, a move that raised the ire of many, including elements within the ANC’s alliance partners.
At the moment, Zille holds executive power over a mayoral committee on which all seats are held by her Democratic Alliance and its allies.
Dyantyi intends proposing an amendment under which power is held by an executive committee, with parties allocated seats according to the strength of their representation in council.
The DA has threatened to take the matter to court should Dyantyi proceed with his plan.
Asked why he was stepping in, particularly in the light of a statement following Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting earlier this week declaring the matter to be ”a provincial competence,” Mufamadi said it was necessary.
”Things have come to a point where we feel this intervention has become necessary,” he said.
Everything had to be done to ”ensure such differences that may exist … are not allowed to become an intergovernmental dispute with the consequence of impacting negatively on intergovernmental relations”.
This would make it difficult for the government to ”deliver on its obligations to the people”.
Mufamadi said it was important, given Zille and Dyantyi’s common responsibilities, ”that we exchange views about the best possible way of making sure there is a meeting of minds”.
A ”harmonious solution” to the problem had to be found. Asked what would happen if agreement could not be found, Mufamadi said: ”Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”
The meeting is to be held in Cape Town. – Sapa