Nomvula Mokonyane: We are not here to canvas for the DA’s Cilliers Brink

ANC deputy secretary general Nomvula Mokonyane has slammed Democratic Alliance (DA) federal chair Helen Zille over her threat to “risk the stability of the government of national unity” to have Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink reinstated.

Last week, Zille wrote to ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula and negotiator David Makhura demanding that Brink be returned to his position, warning that failure to do so could undermine talks on stabilising hung metros. 

Zille accused Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi of pressuring the ANC national leadership to keep the DA out of power.

On Monday, Mokonyane told journalists at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters that the parties involved in the government of national unity (GNU) had agreed that there should be interaction and discussion at a political level.  

Molonyane said throwing threats at “each other was not in the spirit of trying to build unity”.

“The most important is that nobody must assume that we serve at the GNU at their behest.  There are so many other parties that are signatories to the GNU and there has to be respect for one another as well as appreciation for what we all stand for,” she said.

Zille’s assertions were “her own views” and were also “not consistent”, she added.

“Go and see what they [the DA] did in the Northern Cape. They worked against the ANC and worked with the Economic Freedom Fighters [EFF] to nominate a premier for the Northern Cape.

“In the Western Cape, they have gone to other municipalities and worked with many other formations, including the Good party to undermine the potential of the ANC running those municipalities.

“So there has to be  consistency because we are not crybabies. When a decision is taken against us or people opt to collaborate, we don’t have an issue.”

Mokonyane said the ANC would support any process that takes Tshwane forward and creates stability but added: “We are not here to canvas for Cilliers Brink.”

The spat between the leadership of the two parties comes after the ANC and ActionSA removed Brink from his position last week through a motion of no confidence. It passed with the support of 120 councillors from the ANC, ActionSA and the EFF while 87 councillors from the DA, Freedom Front Plus, and the African Christian Democratic Party voted against it.

Part of the conditions for ActionSA supporting the motion was that it would get the mayor position and it pushed for its candidate, Nasipa Moya, to take over after acting in the post for the past seven days. 

The same agreement between the ANC and ActionSA previously played out in the City of Johannesburg, which saw Al-Jamah mayor Kabelo Gwamanda replaced as mayor.

ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, told the Mail & Guardian that it would benefit the ANC to keep its agreement with his party to continue having a working relationship that would keep the DA out of power in metros.

Beaumont said this amid speculation that the ANC wants to field former Tshwane ANC chair Kgosi Maepa as its mayoral candidate. Moya is poised to compete against Maepa and Brink in Thursday’s mayoral election session.

Beaumont said the ANC should not heed the pressure from Zille because it would face the same opposition it faced during negotiations for the Gauteng provincial government of unity where the DA “bullied” the ANC for positions.

The ANC eventually excluded the DA by forming a provincial government of unity with smaller parties including the Inkatha Freedom Party, Rise Mzansi and the Patriotic Alliance.

Beaumont said ActionSA was willing to go to the opposition benches in Tshwane if  negotiations with the ANC did not succeed, and that this would filter to the other metros.

“We are very concerned about the potential of the ANC fielding its own candidate, which is why negotiations between the parties are important. We will update after the negotiations  are done,” Beaumont said.

The DA’s Solly Msimanga also said the party would accept sitting in the opposition benches in the likely event that Brink was not elected as mayor. 

“It is clear that the anti-GNU faction of the ANC is gaining the upper hand in the party,” he said. 

“To the extent that there is a pro-GNU faction, they simply do not have the will and the wherewithal to stand up to those hollowing out the party from within. Whatever the ANC’s internal arrangement, it will be judged by its behaviour.”