EFF statement on ANC alliance collapsing first Metsimaholo council meeting

12 December 2017 

The EFF notes the none attendance of the ANC Alliance at the first Metsimaholo council meeting this morning. This led to the council meeting not forming a quorum. The ANC and SACP both stayed away to allow the meeting to be postponed until next week Tuesday. This is because the two organizations in Metsimaholo represent two factions of the ANC and thus have agreed to await the outcomes of their national conference this Sunday. It is no secret that SACP belongs to Ramaphosa's campaign and the Metsimaholo ANC is with Dlamini-Zuma. 

This means the SACP misled the people of Metsimaholo that they are willing to remove ANC from power. Now it is clear that SACP is using their three seats not to advance the interest of the people, but to position themselves in the ANC factional battles. Their decision not to attend council together with the ANC means they are working together with the ANC. It also means they have not prioritized the stability of the Metsimaholo municipality, instead, they have chosen to use the people's votes for internal factional objectives. 

The EFF had approached the SACP to agree on forming a red government in Metsimaholo. Our proposal to them was to use majority opposition votes to form an EFF SACP government that will stabilize the municipality and rebuild the lives of the poor in Metsimaholo. The SACP instead chose to go and work with the ANC to collapse today's meeting by both being absent. 

The truth is that SACP has been part of the alliance government since 1994. Thus, they ought to take full responsibility for their complicity in the crippling corruption that ANC public representatives have caused. Their absence in today's meeting is yet another act of complicity in causing instability in Metsimaholo. 

We want to warn the people of Metsimaholo and South Africa as a whole that SACP might return power to the same ANC that has long been rejected by the people. The SACP may return the public purse into the same hands of Ace Magashule which the people have rejected. 

The EFF is ready to lead a stable and all-inclusive government in Metsimaholo and will engage with all parties to avoid a re-rerun of elections, which by all intents and purposes, might produce similar outcomes where there is no outright winner. 

The people of Metsimaholo deserve a stable, functional, accessible and accountable Municipality and should not be engaged in permanent elections. 

Issued by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi, National Spokesperson, 12 December 2017