Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza. (Papi Morake/Gallo Images)
In a move it says is aimed at stabilising Ekurhuleni’s finances, the ANC is now gunning for the finance MMC position after its convenor, Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, was elected the new mayor of the metro last week.
The finance portfolio, which controls the metro’s R57. 9 billion budget, was recently held by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Gauteng chair Nkululeko Dunga. Both the ANC and the EFF are understood to want to control the portfolio.
The city’s finances are under scrutiny after it received an unqualified audit opinion in March, which was a slight regression from its previous three consecutive clean audit opinions. The auditor general flagged an irregular expenditure of R21.8 million, which Ekurhuleni committed to addressing.
Xhakaza said control of finance was among the “dynamics” being taken into consideration in the talks between the ANC, the EFF and the smaller parties who form part of the coalition running the metro.
“There’s a lot of dynamics in terms of finalising the names … our wishes should be the ANC but we take note that we do not have the ultimate power. We still want the best candidates that are being put toward by the different parties,” Xhakaza said in an interview at the weekend.
“The ANC has a national framework on coalition, which we also use as a guide, that says the party with the highest number of seats must lead and in this case, it is the ANC.”
He said the ANC had experience in government and had produced leaders over time.
“There’s greater pressure that we must fail. The Democratic Alliance tried and failed. The Economic Freedom Fighters tried through a middleman mayor and now we are at the pole [position] and I’m sure with our experience and collective wisdom, we will rise.”
Xhakaza was elected as the fourth mayor of the city in less than four years, after his predecessor, Sivuyile Ngodwana of the African Independent Congress, was removed through a motion of no confidence on 28 March. There were 42 votes cast in favour of Ngodwana’s removal and 32 against after the ANC and Democratic Alliance abstained.
Tensions have been rising in the metro for a long time, with the ANC accusing the EFF of using bullying tactics and running Ekurhuleni as if it did not have coalition partners. The ANC had raised its concerns with how the city was running its finances under Dunga.
The ANC has argued that it should be given the position of mayor because it has the majority of seats in the council, saying it made “no logical sense” that Ekurhuleni should be led by a mayor from a party with only three seats in council — a reference to Ngodwana.
The party has also said the strategy of allowing councillors from smaller parties to be mayors should be reconsidered.
The council meeting last week Thursday, at which Xhakaza was elected as mayor, got under way three hours after it was scheduled to begin. Before that, meetings to elect a new mayor were postponed at least twice, rendering the metro in breach of the Municipal Structures Act, which stipulates that a mayor must be elected within seven days.
Gauterng MEC for cooperative governance Mzi Khumalo had sent a letter to council speaker Nthabiseng Tshivhenga saying the council was in imminent danger of having to be dissolved should it fail to elect a new mayor by 12 April.
The letter warned that failing that, “the provincial executive council will have no option but to explore and consider its constitutional powers to resolve the inability of the municipal council to duly elect an executive mayor”.
Xhakaza said the EFF supported his candidature as mayor, although the party may have not been a central part of the multi-party conversations at which the resolution was taken. He said one of the reasons Ngodwana was axed was he did not have leadership qualities.
“If you have a mayor that lacks certain attributes that are required to drive a coherent leadership, all these areas including finance are compromised, then you have a problem,” he said.
Xhakaza said he would soon announce his mayoral committee.
“By Monday we must be having a team. According to my wishes, Tuesday would be far away for the people of Ekurhuleni so we are working around the clock to ensure there’s a team,” he said.
“We have to develop a common programme but we have an ANC manifesto, which is very clear and we have to lift it, but we need to hear what other parties are saying before finalising.
“There are wishes of the regional leadership that are guiding me and various consultations we are doing but we have to reconcile and come up with a final product.”