The Independent Democrats (ID) has reached an agreement with the Democratic Alliance (DA) regarding the governance of the City of Cape Town, it confirmed on Wednesday.
Under the agreement, the ID will become part of the DA-led multiparty coalition, ID council caucus chairperson Simon Grindrod told reporters.
He said the ID had heeded the call by its members and the city as a whole to put an unequivocal end to the instability in local politics in the city in recent years.
”We have reflected long and hard on the challenges that face the city … as we work towards readying ourselves for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and other major challenges, [such as] dealing with racial polarisation and delivering services to all the citizens of Cape Town.
”Bearing these and other factors in mind, the ID has decided to work with the ruling coalition in the City of Cape Town,” he said.
He said the decision to join mayor Helen Zille’s administration was not an easy one.
”The ID has not come to this decision lightly … In doing this we believe the city can now get on with the job of delivery without worrying about whether the government will change this week or next week,” he said.
However, Grindrod made it clear his party will retain its independence.
We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the DA, and this spells out clearly [the] areas [where] we will be cooperating — we are not being absorbed by the DA,” he said.
Earlier this week, the multiparty coalition expelled the African Muslim Party after discovering it had been conducting talks with the African National Congress (ANC) about forming a new coalition.
”I considered it a major breach of our agreement, a betrayal of our agreement, and I expelled them from the multiparty government …” Zille said on Tuesday.
Grindrod said the ID, which last year had refused to join the DA coalition, opting to rather join the ANC, has now taken a decision that will ”resonate” not only with its voters but the city’s residents at large.
Speaking later on Wednesday, Zille said she was pleased with the outcome and that the city’s government now represents 65% of the voters.
She commended the ID for choosing ”stability over positions”, as the ID will occupy only three positions — the deputy mayorship, one mayoral committee seat and one sub-committee seat.
Because the ANC could have offered the ID a lot more, its decision is based on principle, she said.
Zille also thanked deputy mayor Andrew Arnolds of the African Christian Democratic Party for his ”maturity and courage” in voluntarily stepping down in favour of the ID.
None of the other parties in the multiparty coalition will lose positions.
The development is also good for opposition politics in South Africa, as it shows that opposition parties can form a viable government, Zille said. — Sapa