DA seeks meeting with President Ramaphosa after Cilliers Brink removed in Tshwane, claims hurdle is at Gauteng province

Msimanga on Saturday told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that even before the motion of no confidence was brought against Brink, the DA had been concerned over the instability at different municipalities in Gauteng.

“We have been making this call even before this motion in Tshwane was put forward. We have been saying it cannot be that we have instability across a number of municipalities in Gauteng.

“You would know that Johannesburg has also had about six mayors in a space of three years. There has been motions in Ekurhuleni and so forth. We cannot continue to have this. We won the second highest number of wards across the province and therefore it affects our public representatives as well who, when services are not being delivered, they feel the brunt from the communities,” the former Tshwane mayor said.

He said the DA wants the ANC to sit with it at the table and talk about ensuring long-term stability in the municipalities.

Msimanga said while the relationship is cosy between the DA and ANC at national level, which birthed the Government of National Unity, the situation is totally different at a provincial level. The ANC in Gauteng is led by Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

“The engagements have really never been straightforward, has never been honest, we would say this is what we want to do and then something else happens. Perhaps there needs to be a conversation at a national level,” he said.

If the meeting with Ramaphosa happens, Msimanga said the engagement should take national stock, not only focus on City of Tshwane.

He said the DA believes South Africa is at an epoch of coalition governments which should work to bring services to South Africans at national, provincial and municipal levels. However, Msimanga said the DA has been hitting a “brick wall” when it comes to the Gauteng province.

“This is why we are saying maybe the two national leaders, that is President Cyril Ramaphosa and John Steenhuisen will need to engage at that level and say are we then able to talk about how we bring stability across municipalities. Modalities can be engaged in that particular meeting where we where we can look at the confidence and supply, even if it is an ANC government, we can hold each other to account,” he said.

Such an arrangement, Msimanga said, would eradicate the trend of having motions of no confidence passed ”every other day”.

Brink was removed after serving for 18 consecutive months at the helm of Tshwane.

Before the final decision, Brink expressed his determination to fight against the motion of no confidence.

IOL