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The DA, ActionSA, FF Plus, ACDP, UDM and Cope have concluded a coalition agreement to join forces in Tshwane and ensure that the ANC does not regain the metro it lost in 2016.
In a joint statement the leaders of the six parties confirmed that – following a meeting in Johannesburg on Friday to discuss the way forward on forming coalition governments, particularly in Tshwane and Johannesburg – they had reached an agreement with regards to the former.
“As far as the Tshwane Metro is concerned, the parties agreed to form a coalition government and support the mayoral candidate of the DA.
“This meeting was a follow-up on the meeting held on 15 November between these parties, and several bilateral discussions. The discussions were constructive and the parties agreed that, in the interest of the future of South Africa, it is important to form stable governments which are serious about service delivery and arresting the decay of local government.
“The DA took a principled decision at their Federal Executive that, where they secured the majority of votes amongst opposition parties, they will put forward their mayoral candidate. They will however report the contents of the discussions to their Federal Executive for consideration,” read the joint statement.
Should the parties combine their seats, they will have 108, enough to form a majority in the 214-seat metro.
The parties revealed that, in terms of Johannesburg, they would still attempt to keep the ANC out and form a minority government, but had as yet not managed to find each other in their talks.
While no agreement had been reached, the statement revealed that talks where fruitful and that most of the parties had agreed to support the mayoral candidate of ActionSA.
This is a move that could see Mashaba regain the mayorship he let go of in 2019.
