DA slams ActionSA chair’s remarks on Tshwane mayor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane says the recent remarks by Action SA’s Tshwane Chairperson, Jackie Mathabathe regarding the removal of Mayor Cilliers Brink proves that the party is using the review process to buy time to find an alternative party to work with.

The party accuses Mathabathe of posting a social media message predicting the DA’s “Golden Boy” would be ousted in 16 days.

DA Tshwane Caucus Spokesperson Kwena Moloto says this proves that the review process outcome has already been predetermined.

Moloto says, “We’ve got internal mechanisms inside the coalition where political parties that form part of the coalition can raise concerns. ActionSA hasn’t used any of those mechanisms in the run-up to this process, they keep on saying they are just reviewing the coalition after the election. Which would be fine if that was genuinely the intention but it’s clear that they are not.”

He says, “They’ve gone on a social media attack literally on a daily basis of going around the city of Tshwane and posting service delivery failures and saying that the DA doesn’t care about townships. They are acting as if they haven’t formed part of this government.”

Moloto says the ActionSA is gunning for the mayoral position for personal interest and not for the interest of the people of Tshwane.

He says Mathabathe’s comments that they want to remove white monopoly capital proves that they are willing to work with only one party, which he says is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Moloto says, “They’ve gone on a smear campaign of a government they form part of for three years, and its very unfortunate because I mean just a month and half ago the same caucus leader that’s now saying that he ‘wants to remove white monopoly capital’ was releasing statements talking about all the great that we are doing in the City of Tshwane together and it’s what we believe.”

“For us, this doesn’t seem to have anything to do with service delivery, it has nothing to do with the residents. It has everything to do with ActionSA attempting to take the mayoral for personal gain,” he adds.

Reporting by Diteboho Ntimane.

PODCAST: Interview with Moloto on SA fm’s First Take Programme on Tshwane Mayor: