The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has declined to take up new members of the mayoral committee (MMC) positions in the City of Ekurhuleni after executive mayor Nkosiphindile Xhakaza announced a reshuffle on Tuesday night.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the EFF said it had rejected the offer of MMC posts and would sit on the opposition benches.
“The EFF informs the people of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng and South Africa that we have declined the offer to form part of the mayoral committee in the City of Ekurhuleni and will humbly and gracefully accept our role in the opposition benches,” the party said.
In the reshuffle, which sources had earlier in the week told the Mail & Guardian was coming, Xhakaza removed EFF councillor Bridget Thusi as MMC for community services and Kgopello Hollo as MMC for human settlements as part of his plan to reduce the Red Berets’ influence in the municipality.
Xhakaza also removed the EFF’s Thembi Msane from the water and sanitation portfolio and offered her the position of overseeing the Infrastructure and Economic Development Agency. He also offered Leshaka Manamela the position of MMC for human settlements, an offer the EFF declined.
“Of particular concern is the decision to remove the responsibilities of water and sanitation from EFF councillor and MMC commissar Thembi Msane and place these responsibilities under a newly constituted portfolio referred to as Metro Utilities (Trading) Services, led by a newly appointed ANC councillor,” the EFF said.
“This irresponsible move seeks to undermine the work of the EFF in maintaining and improving water infrastructure in the city and poses a risk to water services, in the same way the finances of the city were jeopardised by the irrational removal of an EFF MMC in 2024 from that portfolio.”
This latest reshuffle follows the removal of EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga from his position as MMC for finance in Ekurhuleni, a move aimed at fast-tracking the approval of the municipal budget amid concerns over the city’s financial management.
The party criticised what it said was Xhakaza’s refusal to fill the vacancy of speaker with an EFF councillor “as had been agreed upon in previous negotiations as the position had been held by the EFF”.
Last month, the EFF announced it was withdrawing its support for the ANC in the Ekurhuleni council and in the Gauteng provincial legislature, citing disagreements over the implementation of their coalition agreement.
Party leader Julius Malema told journalists that the ANC had made decisions in the municipality “without consulting the EFF” and had ignored agreed governance arrangements. He said the ANC had treated the EFF “as a junior partner rather than an equal participant in governance”. The party “could not continue” under such conditions.
The EFF had supported the ANC in Ekurhuleni after the 2021 local government elections, in which no single party won a majority. The ANC has acknowledged tension with the EFF but has not commented on its decision to decline the MMC positions.
The Economic Freedom Fighters said it would take up a position on the council’s opposition benches instead