ANC/PA coalition in Ditsobotla collapse hours into inaugural Council meeting

10 January 2023

The DA’s long-standing position that the ANC cannot be trusted in coalition politics has been vindicated. Hours into the inaugural Ditsobotla Council meeting yesterday evening, the ANC/PA/F4SD and the African Heart Movement coalition collapsed resulting in the resignation of the newly elected Patriotic Alliance mayor, Cllr Elizabeth Lethoko.

It is evident that the negotiations after last month’s by-elections were nothing but horse-trading for positions of power, and not about restoring governance and service delivery to residents.

The DA in Ditsobotla refuses to entertain this sort of opportunistic politicking at the expense of residents. We maintained that under no circumstances would the DA sell out its voters to enter into a coalition with either the corrupt ANC or destructive EFF to secure lucrative positions of power with access to resources to direct tenders to serve personal corrupt and party-political interests.

We warned the Patriotic Alliance that any coalition agreement with the ANC will end in disaster, and it has now come to pass in Ditsobotla in the same way that the PA gave power to the ANC in the JB Marks Local Municipality following the 2021 local government elections.

Yesterday, the ANC, through COGHSTA MEC Nono Maloyi, tried to undermine the newly constituted Ditsobotla Council to force through his secondment of an interim Municipal Manager to take control of the administrative functions until Council finalises the recruitment and permanent appointment of a suitable candidate. This is irregular and nothing but an attempt to extend ANC control over the municipality for as long as possible to influence contracts, tenders, and municipal appointments.

The ANC should accept that its majority in Ditsobotla has been annihilated to below 40% of the vote and that its rapid electoral decline signals the end of its relevance towards 2024. Unfortunately, a small party that holds only two proportional seats tried to gain power through expedient negotiations with the immoral ANC. This again shows that when voters split the opposition by voting for smaller parties, the ANC wins.

The DA will continue to put all Ditsobotla residents first. We will continue to push for accountable governance and the improvement of service delivery and infrastructure maintenance through the DA’s Caucus Leader, Cllr Yusuf Laher, who holds a legislated position in the Ditsobotla Executive Council.

Issued by Don van Zyl, Councillor, DA North West Provincial Chairperson, 10 January 2023