ANC warned on voting against Daniels

Should the ANC vote against Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor Marlon Daniels to become the next Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor, the party will end its coalition with the ANC in Ekurhuleni.

This was the warning given by PA leader Gayton McKenzie at a media conference at the Port Elizabeth City Hall yesterday.

McKenzie claimed the ANC in Nelson Mandela Bay had been saying it did not want Daniels to become the deputy mayor.

“The deputy mayor position is not a deal-breaker for us, but I want to caution the ANC and tell them, ‘you don’t want to go there’,” McKenzie said.

“If the ANC here votes that Marlon Daniels does not become deputy mayor, five minutes shall not pass and we shall not be part of that Ekurhuleni coalition anymore.

“That is how it is going to work. If you’re going to be our friend, be our friend, but do not come and work with our political enemies to destroy the chances of our representative to become a deputy mayor.”

McKenzie said Bay mayor Athol Trollip would continue being mayor until the end of his term in 2021.

“Nobody can remove Trollip without the PA, you don’t need to be a genius to work that out. You can call us sellouts, you can call us any name under the sun.

“It’s time to govern, the fighting is over. It’s time for [service] delivery.

“Change has not reached our people and there’s no proper service delivery and it’s now time to put all our nonsense aside,” McKenzie said.

“They do that [vote against Daniels] and within five minutes we shall withdraw in Ekurhuleni as the Patriotic Alliance.”

The ANC in Ekurhuleni, with its 109 seats, is in coalition with the PA (one seat), AIC (four seats) and PAC (one seat).

The PA withdrawing its seat would not break the coalition, but it would weaken the government in the council.
McKenzie threatened his party would also stop voting with the ANC in Gauteng, Free State and Cape Town.

ANC elections head Fikile Mbalula said the party had not taken a decision that it would not support a deputy mayor from the PA.

“And I don’t know who he’s talking to in the ANC,” Mbalula said.

“They have made choices as to Nelson Mandela Bay and we didn’t have a problem for them to take up the position.

“But they took up the position in the branches of the DA because they are in a battle with the EFF.

“They have gone into an alliance with Athol Trollip and we have not talked.

“I don’t know, maybe there are other leaders he is talking to.”

Mbalula said the ANC would check what impact the PA would have if it pulled out of the coalition in Ekurhuleni.

ANC chief whip of the Ekurhuleni council Jongizizwe Dlabathi said it had noted McKenzie’s statement and would comment at a later stage as the country was still mourning the passing of Winnie MadikizelaMandela.

He said, however, that the party had presided over a stable coalition since August 2016, with only one or two differences.

“We have not had a council meeting that has collapsed because of our differences,” Dlabathi said.

At the media conference, McKenzie and Daniels were accompanied by PA deputy president Leanne Williams.

Daniels’ appointment as the political head of the roads and transport portfolio was also announced.

The PA is the latest party to join the DA-led coalition in the Bay.