An attempt to establish South Africa’s seventh metropolitan city is causing infighting in the Eastern Cape ANC.
Party leaders have vandalised ANC headquarters in King William’s Town and provincial leaders have been attacked.
Recently several ANC leaders from the Amathole region descended on Calata House in King William’s Town, vandalised the offices and attacked ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mbeyane and provincial minister for safety and security Helen August.
Some claimed that in the attack, August had her clothes ripped off and Mbeyane was chased from his office, but the Mail & Guardian could not confirm the rumour.
Fifteen ANC leaders, including councillors and ANC Youth League members, appeared in court on Friday, February 18, charged with vandalism and assault. They spent the weekend in jail and were released on bail of R1 000 each.
Provincial spokesperson Mlibo Qoboshiyane said the 15 had been suspended and had 30 days to tell the provincial leadership why they should not be expelled from the organisation.
Grade A municipality
At the heart of the matter, according to Eastern Cape provincial insiders who are also government leaders, is the proposal to promote Buffalo City to a grade A municipality, also called a metropolitan council. This status gives a municipality more autonomy, a bigger budget and executive powers.
Councillors and bureaucrats in metro councils have larger salaries than they do in other kinds of municipalities, making it easier to attract scarce skills and qualified people. A metropolitan council also has responsibility for its own safety and security, which means it can have its own metro police system, combining the work of police officers and traffic officers.
Proponents of Buffalo City’s upgrading say residents would get a better-run municipality. But the Democratic Alliance in the municipality claims that it struggles to spend its budget as it is, so additional funds would not necessarily change the state of play.
Buffalo City joins Mangaung (Bloemfontein) in being selected to form new metros because of its population size and contribution to the country’s GDP.
According to Buffalo City’s acting municipal manager, Andile Fani, metropolitan areas “are competitive and attract investment and development [such as] public infrastructure and industry, resulting in the creation of better employment opportunities”.
The establishment of a metro will entail the creation of a new ANC region that would split in two the current Amathole region, in which East London is situated. Everyone is battling to get a spot in the new, well-resourced metro political council.
“It’s a fight for economic and political control of Buffalo City,” Qoboshiyane told the M&G. “The establishment of the Buffalo City metro breaks up the networks and systems that were in place and this angers some people. It is also a way to attack the provincial leadership, which some of them never recognised anyway.”
Adding to the tension is the fact that some ANC regional leaders stand to lose their positions and they are already blaming the provincial leadership for this.