ActionSA-ANC Joburg partnership on the rocks after speaker Nobuhle Mthembu removed

Daily Maverick

5 hours ago

The ANC and its coalition partners in the City of Johannesburg voted to remove the ActionSA speaker, raising questions about their relationship in Tshwane and Gauteng.
In July 2024, ActionSA announced it would vote with the ANC in Johannesburg and Gauteng on an 'issue-by-issue' basis. Party leader Herman Mashaba, who had previously said he'd never work with the ANC, justified the move as necessary to halt Johannesburg's 'downward spiral'.
ActionSA's Nobuhle Mthembu was elected City of Johannesburg speaker in August 2024. The party later took the mayoral chains in Tshwane in a coalition with the ANC and also helped the ANC pass a version of this year's national Budget when the DA opposed its Government of National Unity (GNU) partner.
In Johannesburg, that partnership appears to have collapsed after the ANC supported a no-confidence motion against Mthembu, leading to her removal on Wednesday, 25 June. Mthembu lost the no-confidence vote 212 to 48.
On the same day, Mayor Dada Morero, from the ANC, survived a no-confidence vote, with 144 councillors opposing his removal and 75 supporting the motion in the 250-seat council. Chief whip Sthembiso Zungu also survived a vote for his removal. ActionSA abstained.
The Al Jama-ah party put forward the motion against Mthembu. The ANC-led coalition still has a majority without the support of ActionSA.
'The outcome of this process resulted in the retention of the Executive Mayor, Sello 'Dada' Morero and Councillor Sthembiso Zungu as the chief whip,' said the city in a statement.
'This victory is a clear indication that [the] majority of parties as representative[s] of the residents were voting for stability, continuity and service delivery in Johannesburg.'
The city's statement said Joburg 'has serious challenges' but was 'moving us in the right direction'. The statement did not mention Mthembu.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Mthembu said: 'I can never say anything ill about my organisation. I cannot say that ActionSA let me down.'
ActionSA vs DA
On Wednesday morning, ActionSA announced it would not support Morero in the no-confidence vote.
'This decision was taken with full knowledge that ActionSA's refusal will likely result in the ANC retaliating against the ActionSA speaker in the motion tabled against her,' said the party's Gauteng chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni.
Before the vote, Ngobeni was critical of the DA, which had brought the motion against Morero, claiming the party had not consulted with it about what would happen if the mayor was removed. He referred to previous disagreements when the DA's Mpho Phalatsi was mayor.
After Mthembu was removed, Ngobeni continued to criticise the DA. He said the party had 'collapsed a government that was working under Mpho Phalatse' by refusing a new deal with the Patriotic Alliance to keep her in power.
DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku hadn't responded to a Daily Maverick request for comment at the time of publication, but in a statement, she criticised ActionSA's position on Morero.
'Their abstention in today's vote, which is just as good as a vote to keep Morero, is a cheap tool to keep the door for renegotiations open,' she said.
Budget fallout
ActionSA's relationship with the ANC and its coalition partners in Joburg has been rocky for months.
The party voted against the city's budget in March, largely due to the retention of the R230 prepaid electricity surcharge fee. When ActionSA partnered with the ANC in 2024, among its key priorities was to scrap the fee. However, the surcharge was passed in the budget with the coalition's majority despite ActionSA's opposition.
Following the passing of the city budget, ActionSA's chief whip in the Johannesburg council, Zark Lebatlang, said, 'The ANC has simply refused to commit to any of our proposals.'
At the time, the ANC's Zungu said, 'We have no confidence in them any more. We are not happy with them and after this council, we are going to sit down and … reconsider our relationship with ActionSA.'
In May, News24 reported that ActionSA's Ngobeni said he was aware various parties in the Joburg coalition weren't happy when his party voted against the budget. He said they 'intend to engage them further'.
It's unclear whether ActionSA met the ANC and its coalition partners. It's also unclear how Mthembu's removal will affect ActionSA's relationship with the ANC in Tshwane, where Mayor Nasiphi Moya leads the coalition through the support of the ANC.