Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has accepted an offer from the IFP to field a candidate for the vacant deputy mayor position in uMhlathuze Local Municipality.
Christo Botha, the DA caucus leader in uMhlathuze, will likely assume office almost a month after the DA and IFP signed a service delivery pact aimed at KwaZulu-Natal municipalities.
The position became vacant after EFF councillor Nkululeko Ngubane resigned in January following a collapse of the IFP/EFF agreement.
The agreement collapsed after the IFP rejected an EFF request for the mayorship of uMhlathuze as part of a multiparty power-sharing agreement that involved the ANC.
In June, News24 revealed that the DA and the IFP were finalising a deal to govern together in some municipalities in the province.
In a statement on Tuesday, DA KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Dean Macpherson said the party’s provincial executive committee deliberated the offer at the weekend in terms of section 7 of the service delivery pact the DA and IFP signed in early July.
He said Botha would be nominated to serve as the uMhlathuze municipality deputy mayor.
The council will vote for a new deputy mayor on 10 August.
The ANC is likely to field its own candidate, but all indications are that Botha will emerge victorious as the IFP has the majority of seats in the council.
Macpherson said:
He added that the DA currently chairs the electricity and infrastructure portfolio committee in the council, where “the party has worked hard to stabilise the grid and replace ageing infrastructure to drive investment and job creation”.
“Between the DA and the IFP, the uMhlathuze municipality is making progress after years of looting and maladministration under the ANC, including the infamous R20 million ‘mayoral mansion’ that was never completed,” Macpherson said.
He was referring to a multimillion-rand mansion the municipality set out to build which it said would be used by an incumbent mayor.
Macpherson said the “closer working relationship” between the IFP and the DA shows voters that the two parties can work together to “keep the ANC and EFF out of government, deliver services to the people of KwaZulu-Natal, and provide an alternative” in the province.
The DA, IFP and other parties including the Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA and National Freedom Party will hold their “moonshot pact” convention on 16 and 17 August to try and negotiate a pre-election agreement aimed at unseating the ANC in next year’s national and provincial elections.
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