Malema has said on several occasions that the EFF wants the mayorship in Tshwane. In March, he said that, after elections, the EFF would be going into government and that they would have a mayor in Tshwane.

However, on Tuesday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane reiterated that the party would not be moving out of Tshwane, adding that it was not in a formal coalition with the EFF.

“So, I think we must be clear on where we stand on this issue. So, we have gone back, and as early as tomorrow, or the next couple of days, we’ll be meeting with the other opposition leaders to put the question of the EFF put before us,” Maimane told media in Cape Town.

“But at this point in time, we have a mayor in Tshwane, who is working to deliver services to the people. We are certainly, from where we stand, not moving out of the city of Tshwane.

The ANC in Tshwane has also thrown its weight behind the DA, for the time being, after the Tshwane 2019/20 budget was approved in May.

EFF are ‘irrelevant’ in Tshwane

Tshwane ANC chairperson Kgosi Maepa told News24 that a deal had been struck with the DA to vote in favour of the budget, which is a pro-poor budget that would see a large capital injection into regions where the ANC finds most of its support.

While Maepa maintained that they would vote issue by issue, with no clear allegiance carved out between the DA and the ANC, he did say that, currently, there was a multiparty arrangement in Tshwane.

The only party that appears to be on the outside is the EFF, which cast a dissenting vote on the budget.

Maepa said the outcome of the budget vote was a clear indication that the EFF had become “irrelevant” in Tshwane.

“It is now clear that the EFF is more interested in playing ‘palace politics’ at the expense of our communities and welfare of our people,” the ANC in Tshwane said.

‘We want to see something’

In a statement on Wednesday, the ANC called Malema “the fake commander-in-chief who has never led any army before”.

“Julius Malema convened the media to outline his plan to take over the City of Tshwane, with a measly 11% of the vote garnered in the 2016 Local Government Elections, by coercing the DA to hand over the mayoral chain to his ‘Toy Soldiers’,” the ANC statement read.

“He said the City of Tshwane would have a new EFF executive mayor in June.

“Seeing that we are now in the month of June, we would like to ask, what happened to those bold plans? Is the EFF going to submit a motion of no confidence in Councillor Stevens Mokgalapa at the council sitting of June? Or have they done a sudden U-turn as we are accustomed to from them?

“We would like to urge the fake commander-in-chief to go ahead with his bold plans in the next council; we want to see something!”

News24 requested comment from the EFF, which will be added once received.

DM