The ANC in Ekurhuleni on Thursday submitted a motion of no confidence in Mayor Tania Campbell and accused her of racialising service delivery in the metro.

ANC chief whip in the metro councillor Jongizizwe Dlabathi said under Campbell’s leadership “service delivery has taken a racial turn, and our townships, where the majority black communities reside, have been clearly neglected”.

“The DA has actually pursued an anti-pro-poor (sic) budget, with one case in point being the abrupt decision of taking away the free basic electricity, which was a necessary relief for our communities, especially amid the tough economic conditions,” said Dlabathi.

The DA has rubbished the reasons cited for the motion of no confidence.

DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille said opposition parties always made up excuses in their attempts at unseating a party in power.

Zille added:

According to her, South Africa does not have coalition politics. She said the current situation was akin to kingmaker politics where those joining forces were always looking out for what was best for them and not the communities they were supposed to serve.

Zille said 90% of the time was being spent trying to keep coalitions together, instead of service delivery.

According to Campbell, her multiparty coalition government is as diverse as the communities it serves.

She said the coalition government “gives us a distinct advantage in understanding the real challenges facing communities across the city. As a result, we are well placed to resolve the service delivery and financial quagmire we encountered when we acceded to office barely four months ago”.

The motion of no confidence, which was submitted on Thursday, paves the way for an ANC takeover in coalition with the EFF, as was the case when the party recently managed to wrestle back power in Johannesburg with the assistance of the EFF.

Dlabathi said the motion was scheduled to be voted on at the next ordinary council sitting on 26 October.

Campbell has been leading a minority coalition, but with fractured relations between the DA and ActionSA, the party could lose control of a second Gauteng metro in the space of three weeks.

Dlabathi said the ANC was confident of “the basis under which we are putting the motion; the reasons that we are raising should resonate with the majority parties in council”.

EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga said they were yet to decide on the matter but added that they were aggrieved by the DA’s leadership in the metro.

“Currently, there are motions adopted by the council that the DA administration is stalling in implementing because there is no political will to carry decisions of council out on the basis that they do not resonate with the DA ideology,” said Dunga.

“We can’t allow such a situation. We, however, remain committed to being constructive and ensuring that there is a stable government. However, the stability of a formulated governance will lie purely in its effectiveness in rendering basic services,” Dunga added.