Simmering tensions that have threatened the Nelson Mandela Bay coalition in recent months are boiling over again as Marlon Daniels, of the Patriotic Alliance, says he is ready to throw in the towel – again.
Barely four months after signing a second pact with the DA, Daniels is fed up, saying he believes the party is using residents in the northern areas as mere “voting fodder”.
He says metro police jobs “promised” for young people from the predominantly coloured community have not been forthcoming.
While his boss, PA national leader Gayton McKenzie, has advised him against pulling out of the coalition, Daniels hopes to persuade the national executive committee – the party’s decision-making body – to back him.
“I am of the view that it’s just a marriage of convenience. I am of the view that the DA doesn’t give a damn about our northern areas,” he said.
“Our people are just used as voting fodder. I don’t want to play a part where the Patriotic Alliance is seen as just using our northern areas people for votes.
“The only way to impact our people positively is to impact their lives and change things for them. It’s all about job creation.
“What is the point of me holding office? What is the point of us being part of government, yet that position or that office that we hold has got no positive bearing or impact or influence on the people from the northern areas?”
Mayor Athol Trollip has disputed the voting fodder claim as “simply untrue”.
“No other party represents the northern areas and its people better than the DA, both when we were in opposition and now in government.
“Note the votes cast for the DA and the number of DA, PR and ward councillors, MPs and MPLs compared to all other parties; none come close.
“No one is voting fodder, people make free political choices at the ballot box in our new democratic dispensation,” Trollip said.
But Daniels is adamant he is not happy in the coalition.
“I wouldn’t mind walking away today, but it’s my president that is advising me differently,” he said.
“I am not happy within the coalition because me being there is of no benefit to the people of the northern areas.
“I am happy to move to the back row in the [council] chambers and vacate my office with immediate effect.”
Should Daniels succeed in convincing his political bosses to pull out, the PA withdrawing will push the coalition government back onto shaky ground and give the opposition an extra seat to have the majority vote in council.It would also leave Trollip vulnerable to future attempts by the opposition to oust him.
He survived a number of noconfidence attempts with the help of the EFF last year. But, more recently, the EFF turned on Trollip, attempting to remove him through a motion of no confidence.
This development placed Daniels and the PA in a kingmaker position in council.
The PA and DA have had a fractious relationship before.
Last year, the PA got into bed with the DA-led coalition but after Trollip refused to accede to giving Daniels the deputy mayorship, the party pulled out of the coalition after just three months.
In March, the two parties joined forces again, but it has been a bumpy ride since, with Daniels refusing to initially support the budget in June and later bumping heads with DA councillors over the Circular Drive road expansion project.Speaking from Russia on Thursday – where he said he was on a political trip gifted by McKenzie to coincide with the Soccer World Cup – Daniels claimed he had been promised hundreds of metro police and peace officer jobs for young people from the northern areas in exchange for his vote and continued support of the coalition.
“[Mayoral committee member in charge of safety and security] John Best came to my office and told me that 250 people will be sent to the training college in Greenbushes, where they will commence in June with a course to become metro police officers and some would be traffic officers.
“Why has he come to me to tell me about the 250? It’s because the PA put its foot down and said if the next batch of metro police officers is not going to come from the northern areas, then we do not see the need for us to be part of government.
“People are sitting on the corners every day, unemployed with matric, [as well as] graduates. People qualify to go to [the training] college.
“I told [Best] that if I cannot get our northern areas people to join the college to become metro police officers or traffic officers then I don’t see my role being part of this government.
“There is no coloured representation in the metro police. I’ve asked for at least 150 qualified unemployed coloured graduates to be [there].”
Daniels added: “When they wanted my vote, John Best and [portfolio head of budget and treasury] Retief Odendaal said they’re going to send 200 people from the northern areas and train them as peace officers, they’ve got the money.”
He said none of these alleged promises were fulfilled.
Trollip has refuted the claims, saying promising jobs for votes is unlawful.
“We require coalition partners’ votes at all council meetings according to our co-governance agreement.
“John [Best] and Retief [Odendaal] deny having promised such jobs as all employment must be done according to legal prescription.
“We do want our metro police service to be representative of the community demographics and the relevant equity legislation pertains.”
Asked about the relationship between the DA and PA, Trollip said his dealings with the PA leadership had always been frank and honest. “Not always easy, but open. “Coalitions are difficult and the art of making them succeed is open and honest interaction and engagement. This we all strive to foster and achieve.”