Gauteng ANC chairperson Panyaza Lesufi said his party was planning to unplug the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane from power following a long-standing lack of service delivery concerns.
Lesufi said the ANC was in talks with its national leadership to get the go-ahead to reclaim the mayoral reins in the City of Tshwane Municipality.
He addressed the media on the outcomes of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) at the Ruth First House in Johannesburg on Monday.
Lesufi said that for the ANC to resume talks with other political parties, Luthuli House must first give its approval of his intentions to seize control of Tshwane.
“We want to consult our national leadership because there are various dynamics in Tshwane that we have to be sensitive with relationships that have been established with the national government as well,” he said.
The Tshwane municipality is under the administration of the DA, led by mayor Cilliers Brink.
For more than ten years, Tshwane has been without a stable government, and residents have complained about the metro’s failure to deliver basic services.
This is seen mostly in Pretoria townships and other parts of the city including the water-stricken Hammanskraal.
Lesufi said it was time for the ANC to govern Tshwane and ensure that service delivery was normal.
“In 2021, during local government elections, the ANC lost all three metros, and we politely took our opposition stand in the benches and it was only when those governments that were established collapsed that the ANC was requested to step in.
“From that period till today, two of the metros that we lost are now back where the ANC is at the helm of those two municipalities. There is a huge chance that can happen in Tshwane in the next few weeks,” Lesufi said.
He has said that Gauteng will be a viable province under his leadership.
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