Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has reportedly instructed all party deputy mayors in KwaZulu-Natal to resign with immediate effect, leaving coalition partner Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the lurch at several councils.
According to the SABC, Malema wants the IFP removed from all municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and in Gauteng.
This could cause instability at the IFP-led coalitions in KwaZulu-Natal where the two parties partnered against the African National Congress (ANC).
‘EFF will no longer be sidelined’
Malema accused the IFP of refusing to change, labelling them as “apartheid collaborators.”
“Here and now we say without any fear of contradictions, all our deputy mayors under the IFP must resign with immediate effect and we are no longer working with the IFP.
“We thought that the apartheid collaborator has changed their spots but it is very clear that they are not ready to change. The IFP must not get anything where we are involved, where you see the ugly head of the IFP, put it aside,” Malema was quoted by the SABC on Saturday.
The EFF has deputy mayors in three district municipalities – Zululand, Amajuba and Uthukela and in five local municipalities – Dannhauser, Maphumulo, Nongoma, Umhlathuze and Mtubatuba.
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EFF ‘not honest’
Speaking to the Sunday Times, IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said he wasn’t surprised by Malema’s statement as negotiations between the two parties have collapsed.
“There’s no honesty to what the EFF is saying. We will take South Africans into our confidence about what happened.”
“We are mindful of the implications of us losing some municipalities but that is a democracy, the party is on an upward growth trajectory, and we will recover,” said Hlengwa.
The EFF’s new move is expected to be extended to the eThekhwini metro, whose coalition is led by the ANC.
Meanwhile, EFF provincial chairperson Mongezi Twala blamed “IFP’s corruption and arrogance” for the coalition breakdown.
“We are supporting them in 14 municipalities, our leadership engaged with them but they seem to be arrogant, they act as if they won outright.
They are corrupt, municipalities are decaying in KwaZulu-Natal, they are on a brink of collapse under the IFP,” he told the publication.
The EFF, which is celebrating a 10th anniversary this year since it was founded, is holding its annual plenum in Ekurhuleni to plan for the political year ahead.
Coalition problems at hung councils
Very few hung municipalities post the 2021 local elections are stable, leaving many questioning the viability of multi-party coalitions.
The country’s hung metros – Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane have seen leadership posts changing hands frequently as smaller parties re-modelled themselves as kingmakers, fighting to be included in governing structures.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Joburg councillor member Mpho Phalatse was stripped of mayorship by an EFF and ANC-backed motion that saw Al-Jama-Ah party taking the mayoral chain.
With only three seats in the council, Al-Jamah-Ah councillor, Mayor Thapelo Ahmad now runs the country’s biggest metro.
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–Compiled by Getrude Makhafola
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