The IFP and the DA in the eThekwini Municipality are set to take control of service delivery.
The parties are expected to lead the governance committee tasked with the delivery of houses, water and electricity and are expected to lead the human settlements and infrastructure (HSI) services committee which will now be split between the two, with the IFP leading human settlements and the DA leading trading services (infrastructure).
This decision is expected to be ratified by the executive committee (Exco) on Tuesday.
“The Mercury” understands this is part of the deal struck between the two parties that guaranteed the election of the ANC-designated Cyril Xaba as the new city mayor on Wednesday.
This means the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP, who already have a working arrangement at provincial level, extend this arrangement at a municipal level.
Sources in the municipality said the post of speaker would remain with the ANC, the post of deputy mayor would remain with the NFP and the MPAC –municipal public accounts committee – remains with the EFF.
The ANC will chair the ethics, community services, governance and international relations, economic development and planning committees.
Another source, who is aware of the negotiations, said the DA and the IFP were given the HSI services committee to run as the DA had backed the ANC into a corner, demanding that it give an assurance that it will honour this commitment or the DA would have fielded its own candidate for mayor in opposition to Xaba.
There were frenzied discussions during the council meeting on Wednesday.
The election of the mayor was delayed for close to an hour, with different parties calling for private caucuses with their members.
At one point, the ANC feared it would not be able to elect their preferred candidate for mayor, said a source.
“They had to engage with the EFF to ask them to vote with the ANC or abstain. The IFP had not changed its stance on voting with us (the ANC) but we needed to be sure that we had high votes because anything could have happened if it went to a secret ballot,” said the official.
“The ANC has given the DA this important committee, but I guarantee you they will use it to beat up the ANC.”
The source said this was an opportunity for the DA to claim it was better at running the City.
Speaking on the allocation of the committee, IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi declined to comment.
“The committees are decided on by the executive committee and it has not sat yet, so it is very difficult to comment on rumours that we’ve been hearing.”
Nkosi is a member of Exco and is considered a front runner to be elected to that post.
Nkosi, in previous engagements with “The Mercury”, raised concerns about the delays in the building of houses.
The DA’s caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, is considered the front runner to be appointed as chairperson of the trading services committee.
Mthethwa declined to comment, saying that all discussions on this matter were handled by the provincial office.
The ANC did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. The party had previously said it was open to sharing committees with other parties.
The Mercury