Durban — Despite being subbed for the position of Municipal Public Account Committee (MPAC) chairperson in the eThekwini Municipality, small parties have welcomed the election of the EFF's Thamsanqa Xuma as the new chairperson.
The election took place during the full council meeting on Friday. The MPAC position had been vacant for months after ActionSA fired its councillor, Dr Makhosi Khoza, who defied the party and worked with the ANC.
With support from ANC, IFP and small parties, Xuma easily defeated the DA's Andre Beegte, who was only voted for by his party.
Speaking to the ‘Daily News’ on Sunday, the small parties bloc chairperson Zandile Myeni said that after having a meeting with the ANC, small parties understood and accepted that they would not be able to get the position since their parties were not represented in the committee.
She said they welcomed the explanation and agreed to continue with their relationship with the ANC.
Myeni said parties understood that when Khoza was elected to the position, her party had a seat on the committee.
“Our relationship with the ANC is still intact. We supported the EFF candidate taking over the position, so we are aggrieved by that,” said Myeni.
The election of the EFF councillor to the position also meant the collapse of the DA-led bloc where IFP and EFF voted for a DA candidate against Khoza, who was supported by the ANC in the first election.
The IFP and EFF had also supported former DA councillor Nicole Graham for the mayoral position, but this time both parties dumped the DA coalition.
This did not go down well with the DA, which called its former partners sell-outs.
The party's caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, said it was regrettable that the EFF and IFP had decided to sell the people of eThekwini out by joining forces with the ANC after having agreed to work together to remove ANC from power, adding his party was the only one now sticking with the initial plan to fight for the removal of the ANC from power for the benefit of the people of the city.
The IFP's Mdu Nkosi hit back at Mthethwa, saying that supporting the DA for the mayoral position did not mean their parties were owned by the party; it was their caucus decision to support the EFF's candidate.
The EFF's provincial chairperson, Vusi Khoza, said the DA had several times made it clear that it did not like the EFF, so his party felt that continuing to support them was no longer necessary.
Daily News