Despite ActionSA eyeing the mayoral position in Tshwane, leader Herman Mashaba says they will only support the ANC if they put in a more competent candidate than theirs.
Mashaba said they are going to field Nasiphi Moya as the candidate for mayor of Tshwane going into negotiations with the ANC.
Moya is currently the deputy mayor of the metro.
This comes after Cilliers Brink was removed in an ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence last week. The motion was supported by ActionSA and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
"It depends on who they will put forward, they have to put someone better than Dr Nasiphi. We will look at it. What I am trying to say is that we are not clever and some people have accepted my race not to be clever, but we are not fools," Mashaba told Newzroom Afrika in an interview on Tuesday.
Mashaba said the negotiations were sensitive and cannot be discussed or addressed in public.
DA federal chairperson Helen Zille has since given the ANC an ultimatum to reinstate Brink or her party will not hold negotiations in other metro areas.
According to her, the city will run to the ground if the former mayor was not in office.
The DA declared that Brink will run for mayor again when the council meets to select the next mayor.
It is also reported that DA leader John Steenhuisen has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene on the issue.
But responding to this, Gauteng ANC chairperson Panyaza Lesufi told Zille to go jump because she will never dictate terms to the ANC.
"You will never dictate terms to us members of the ANC. Never! You can bring all your media friends and media houses, the ANC is not for sale. The ANC is one. There’s no Provincial ANC nor local ANC, we are one ANC not a federal movement," Lesufi said on X.
ANC first secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane also told the media on Monday that Zille must have a thick skin and not sulk whenever things don't go her way.
"There has to be consistency, we are not crybabies, when a decision is taken against us or people opt to collaborate, we don't have an issue. That's where we need to help Helen," she said.
Tshwane has less than 14 days to meet and elect a new mayor.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
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