ActionSA lead by Herman Mashaba. Picture: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
The cracks in the alliance between ActionSA and the DA in Tshwane are deepening further.
This as DA’s Tshwane caucus leader and chairperson, Jacqui Uys, removed all ActionSA caucus member from a WhatsApp group.
Uys said ActionSA had publicly ended its relationship with the coalition in Tshwane.
“This WhatsApp group is used to communicate arrangements amongst coalition members and it is important that the group has the correct people on it,” she explained.
ActionSA Tshwane spokesperson, Tshepiso Modiba said there were no reasons given to ActionSA members as to why they were removed from the WhatsApp group.
“We believe that the DA in Tshwane is already conceding and accepting that their days are numbered in Tshwane.
“We are also informed that they changed the name of the WhatsApp group to ‘COT United Opposition’, that’s a sign of defeat before we can even go to war,” Modiba said.
As things stand, Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink’s days in office seem to be numbered as ActionSA served divorce papers to its coalition partner, the DA, last Monday.
The party leader Herman Mashaba announced that the party was leaving the DA-led multiparty government in Tshwane and would either vote in support of an ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence against Brink later this month, or refrain from participating.
DA national spokesperson, Willie Aucamp, accused Mashaba of bringing down an effective and well-functioning coalition.
“The coalition had achieved success and a significant improvement in the city’s finances and audit outcome, a credible plan to secure maximum energy independence and a partnership with national government to solve the Hammanskraal water crisis.
“To show ActionSA’s hypocrisy, they have taken credit for many of these achievements, and their councillors continue to serve in key mayoral committee positions despite Mashaba’s pronouncements,” Aucamp said.
ActionSA has accused the DA of going behind its back to negotiate with the ANC.
However, the DA has denied allegations that it tried to replace ActionSA with the ANC in the governing coalition.
Speaking at the party’s convention in Pretoria, the provincial chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, said the DA was planning on replacing it with the ANC in Tshwane.
“ActionSA was not going to wait for the DA to remove us – we had to be proactive, we had to protect our reputation, protect our own brand, protect ourselves as a party but also ensure the destabilisation process of the DA doesn’t affect the residents at all,” Ngubeni said.
Meanwhile, ActionSA councillors in Tshwane, who serve in the municipal executive will not be resigning from their posts, despite the party cutting ties with the governing coalition.
The Star
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