The honeymoon is over: ANC and ActionSA's marriage turns 'toxic'
Just a few months after ActionSA helped ANC regional chairperson Dada Morero become the mayor of Johannesburg, the party has described its relationship with Morero as 'toxic'.
This comes after Morero allegedly ignored ActionSA's concerns over the 2025/2026 budget, despite ActionSA being considered a coalition partner in the governing of Johannesburg.
Morero is accused of lobbying smaller parties to vote in favour of a controversial R89 billion budget that has been described as anti-poor and flawed.
Speaking to The Citizen on Friday, Mashaba said the passing of the budget is a sign that Morero no longer needs support from ActionSA.
'He has shown us that he does not need us but we will not become voting cows to serve his agenda,' he said.
Mashaba said he had complained to the ANC provincial task team about Morero's questionable leadership in Johannesburg.
This includes the appointments of tainted individuals to powerful positions and unethical behaviour.
'He is failing the residents of Johannesburg; he does not appoint people on the basis of merit. For him to tell me that he appointed the MMC of finance because he wants to control her is shocking.
'I have made the ANC aware of these things and they are also concerned,' he said.
Motion of no confidence
Mashaba said ActionSA had not decided which way it would vote when Morero faces a motion of no confidence vote next month.
'We will take the next step as it comes. He does not need our vote, it is clear that he has his partners that will protect him,' he said.
The DA and the African Democratic Christian Party (ACDP) have already indicated that they will vote in favour of the motion.
Will ActionSA take the opposition benches?
Meanwhile, Mashaba said even though ActionSA occupies the speaker position in the legislature, the party will not support questionable decisions by the mayor just to keep the position.
'We did not beg or ask anyone to give us the speaker position. If they decide that they do not want us, that decision is not ours.
'They are the ones who approached us to give us the position. If they gave us the position to soften us to become voting cattle, then they made a big mistake,' he said.
Mashaba said ActionSA will continue to use its position in the legislature to hold Morero's administration accountable.
'We will hold them accountable officially as long as we run the legislature,' he said.
Local government elections
He said the party still hopes to boot the ANC out of power in the upcoming local government elections next year.
'What we need to work on is to ensure that residents of Johannesburg vote ActionSA into power and remove the ANC.
'Residents cannot keep empowering the ANC, we have demonstrated that where we govern, we always act in the best interests of our residents,' he said.
Mashaba said it is unlikely that the ANC would remove ActionSA from the legislature, as negotiations for that position had taken place at the provincial level.
ALSO READ: Joburg's new city manager? Botes is a bad choice, says DA
Mashaba's soft spot for Joburg
The Citizen sent questions to the ANC in Johannesburg and Morero spokesperson Chris Vondo about tensions with ActionSA.
There had been no response at the time this article was published.
Meanwhile, Ntsikelelo Breakfast a political analyst from Nelson Mandela University (NMU) told The Citizen that Mashaba had leaned towards a relationship with the ANC despite challenges along the way to avoid working with the DA.
'One could say ActionSA is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The reason that this party was started wa because of the discontent that Mashaba had with the DA.
'So instead of Mashaba gravitating to a party that made him have a broken heart I think he chose to work with the ANC which was a surprise because ActionSA has always said they will never work with the ANC because the ANC is corrupt,' he said.
Breakfast said it is clear that Mashaba has a soft spot for Johannesburg because he had been mayor before and perhaps wanted to preserve his legacy.
NOW READ: How Joburg plans to spend R89 billion
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