The burning fires of internal political party tension — before the local elections

The past few days have seen the first signs of what is likely to be a very difficult political period, before campaigning for the local elections really begins.

It appears that there are now real tensions between the leadership of the Joburg ANC and the city’s mayor, who supposedly represents them.

News24 has reported that mayor Dada Morero is refusing to work closely with the newly elected leader of the Joburg ANC, Loyiso Masuku.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, meanwhile, has asked the Gauteng ANC to provide the police with all material related to the ANC’s Joburg conference to investigate alleged irregularities.

Masuku defeated Morero in an election in December. And despite promises by her supporters at the time to keep him in office, it is likely that calls for him to be removed will continue to grow.

This is part of a pattern that the ANC has been unable to properly deal with over the years – the fact that there are often “two centres of power”.

It is this dynamic that led to the removal of both presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. There is no reason to think Morero can withstand the contradiction this inevitably creates.

However, this is likely to be only the beginning of much greater turmoil.

The DA is likely to try to make the entire story of this election about Joburg.

The party will continually compare it with Cape Town (despite their very different histories, which continue to have an impact on how these cities develop now), claiming that service delivery there is because of the DA, and that service delivery in Joburg is because of the ANC.

The DA may well find fertile ground in this, so angry are so many residents about the state of Joburg.

This means that the national ANC has to find a candidate who can manage this kind of campaign and provide opposition to Helen Zille.

Both the DA and the media are likely to demand public debates between the two mayoral candidates, and this might be impossible for the ANC to ignore.

But the Joburg ANC might well insist that the candidate remains Masuku, as she is their elected leader – and they will say that the ANC must support women candidates.

This dispute, if not properly handled, could well overshadow the ANC’s entire election campaign.

Ekurhuleni standoff

Meanwhile, in Ekurhuleni, the party may face other troubles.

News 24 reported this week that mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza was on the scene when DJ Bongani Mfito was killed, allegedly by security guards who worked for the metro.

It follows previous reporting that Xhakaza tried to divert attention from the possible real suspects in the murder of the auditor Mpho Mafole. He was killed in an obvious hit while investigating metro contracts.

In his first direct response to News 24’s reporting on Wednesday, he claimed they were the “latest unsubstantiated attempt to tarnish his reputation and delegitimise his leadership authority”.

But absent from the response was any denial that he was on the scene when Mfito was killed. This may lead to more pressure from the ANC to remove him from this position.

Other parties will also believe the ANC could be unseated from power there.

The current coalition led by the ANC appears unstable, amid reports that the ANC wants to remove EFF members of the mayoral committee.

If the ANC loses the support of the EFF, it would probably lose power, unless it can do a deal with MK or someone else.

The DA would smell blood as it has previously been able to install a mayor following a power play by Julius Malema against the ANC.

Meanwhile, ActionSA might also face problems in that metro in what is surely a vital election for Herman Mashaba. His party has often given the impression that it is a regional party, with a base in Gauteng.

Last week, it announced legal action against the Independent Police Investigative Directorate for its failure to release the report on its probe into how President Cyril Ramaphosa’s VIP officers behaved during the Phala Phala scandal.

This is a weak point for the coalition government, and ActionSA would be saying to voters that it is the one party outside the coalition prepared to take constructive action.

It also stands to gain more than most if the claims against DA leader John Steenhuisen turn out to have more bite.

But its choice of television host Xolani Khumalo as its mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni may be disastrous.

Khumalo became famous for his Moja Love TV show, in which he appeared to take action against drug dealers. In at least one case, a man died after being assaulted. Murder charges against Khumalo in that case were withdrawn.

But this week, he appeared in court again on a charge of assault.

While Mashaba may have been looking to bolster his “tough on crime” image and was eager for Khumalo’s name recognition, it may only be a matter of time before another incident occurs – and some ActionSA supporters might then find this difficult to accept.

ActionSA’s ANC dilemma

At the same time, developments in Tshwane could affect both ActionSA and the ANC.

There, the deputy mayor, the ANC’s Eugene Modise, has been found by an internal report to have received rental income from a property he leases to Triotic Protection Services. He previously owned this company, which receives work from the metro.

Instead of following the report’s recommendation and disciplining him, the Tshwane council, because of the ANC, has voted instead to create a committee to consider the issue.

The Mayor of Tshwane is ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya. This shows the big risk facing ActionSA.

Mashaba said he joined politics to remove the ANC from power. Now, not only is his party helping the ANC to retain power in Tshwane, but voters may feel it is helping the ANC to enable corruption.

As in Joburg and Ekurhuleni, one of the people at the centre of tension is the leader of the ANC region – Modise was re-elected Tshwane ANC leader unopposed in December last year.

While many of our political parties will want to focus on their opponents as the elections get closer, it may be that some become consumed by the tensions within them. DM