The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Ekurhuleni is considering using a motion of no confidence in mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, of the ANC, to gain political ground ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga said although the party had not received official communication about the motion, it would field its own candidate for mayor should Xhakaza, who assumed office last April, be ousted.
The Independent Citizen Movement filed the motion to remove the mayor earlier this month, accusing him of plunging Ekurhuleni into debt and failing to settle an Eskom debt, which now stands at R2.3 billion. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)seconded the motion.
“If an opportunity arises for the EFF to step up at any given level to govern or take the mayoral chains, we’re willing to step up because we have shown that we’re extremely capable of government,” said Dunga.
This would also see his return to the mayoral committee after he was removed last year.
Dunga said the motion had not gone through the council’s programming committee by 11 March, so it was unclear whether it would be among the items tabled in the council meeting on 27 March. The EFF would support the motion if tabled, he added.
For the motion to pass, a 50% plus one vote is required. This is the same margin needed to pass budgets, speaker elections and other council items. The Ekurhuleni council has 224 seats, with the ANC holding the highest number at 86, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 65, the EFF with 31, ActionSA with 15, Freedom Front Plus with eight, while the Inkatha Freedom Party and ACDP each have two seats. The smaller parties add up to 10 seats.
For the EFF to win the mayorship, it would need votes from the DA, ActionSA and all the small parties.
Xhakaza was appointed mayor last year after African Independent Congress mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana — who had been elected through an ANC/EFF pact — was ousted in a vote of no confidence.
In his first orders in office, Xhakaza removed Dunga as member of the mayoral council for finance — citing “misalignments” — and replaced him with the ANC’s Jongizizwe Dlabathi, who had been critical of Dunga and who had accused EFF leaders of using taxpayers’ money for their personal use.
Despite the bad blood between the Red Berets and Xhakaza, Dunga said his party’s ambitions for leading the metro were only about its desire to improve the delivery of services.
“We have always argued that Xhakaza always borders on the lines of being extremely unprocedural, and his actions have always been counterproductive in providing service delivery, which is why you have suppliers who have not been paid in three months. We want to provide better services for the people of Ekurhuleni,” Dunga said.
The EFF’s plans for the top position come amid the ANC’s discussions with other parties, including the DA and ActionSA, to remove the party from the metro’s leadership.
The ANC has used the EFF’s poor electoral performance as leverage to remove its members from mayoral committee positions. The EFF has not won wards in by-elections held since the 2021 local government elections, and its voter share in Gauteng dropped from 14.67% in 2019 to 12.92% in last May’s elections.
Dunga said the EFF was aware of the pact signed between the ANC and ActionSA, which is meant to extend beyond the 2026 elections, to keep mayoral positions the same even after next year’s local government elections.
“In the spirit of political relationships, we will vote with them to maintain their speaker and mayoral positions,” he said.
The EFF had contacted ActionSA to indicate its willingness to accept and even vote for an ActionSA official as oversight chairperson of finance, in a bid to stop the ANC’s plan to “swallow” the EFF in municipalities, Dunga added.
“The ANC plans to eliminate us in municipalities, swallow us until we do not exist, which is why you see them even fostering deals with the DA and other parties. But we will survive as we have always survived, and we do this by taking all leadership positions that present themselves,” he said.
Asked about the planned motion against him during a service delivery outreach programme in Benoni this week, Xhakaza said it was a “frivolous” move by some councillors planning to destroy Ekurhuleni for the benefit of corrupt officials in the city.
The motion was meant to stop Dlabathi’s investigation into financial mismanagement, which uncovered the source of a R2.3 billion revenue shortfall, he added.
“The motion is because we are on course to sort out the rot, and frivolous motions of political parties in the hands of the people who are committing this rot will not deter us. We are going to beat the bushes until the tigers come out. And when they come out, we will put them in a cage,” said Xhakaza.
He vowed that the investigation would bring the administrators found guilty of financial mismanagement to account.
“They are hell-bent on doing everything possible to ensure the report does not go through council. We will act on it and escalate it to the Gauteng Cogta [cooperative governance and traditional affairs] MEC. We will even go to court to get a declaratory order if possible. We must clean this city of the rot that has contributed so much to the loss of public money, and I am here to do that,” he said.
“We have seen political parties come and go since 2021 and seen changes in political offices, but the officials remain the same. The officials that are causing the rot remain in office diverting the city from reaching solutions through frivolous motions every time they are caught.
“We will not change; they must account and until they account, we are not giving up.”
Dlabathi was not available for comment.
This move is in line with the Economic Freedom Fighters’
plan to survive beyond the 2026 local government election
