ActionSA expected to back City of Joburg’s R2.5bn French loan

A newly reconfigured multiparty working agreement, including ActionSA, is on the cards for the city of Joburg as the Herman Mashaba-led party and the ANC talks reach a conclusion.

The two parties have been in discussions since the previous Joburg council meeting earlier in July when the ANC-backed R2.5bn loan from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) was rejected by the council after the EFF did not vote with the ANC. 

The council is expected to reconvene on Thursday when the issue of the loan will again be placed on the agenda. This time however, ActionSA is expected to vote with the ANC.

The party previously rejected the loan on the basis that the ANC Joburg chair Dada Morero, who is also the finance MMC, did not provide the council with some of the critical details of the loan and because it believed that it was too costly. 

“We are still engaging each other and we expect to find each other before the extraordinary council meeting on Thursday where we will be dealing with the loan,” ANC Joburg spokesperson Sasabona Manganye told Business Day. 

The Joburg metro, with a population of 6-million, is faced by a slew of service delivery challenges including water and power cuts, illegal mining, violent crime, high joblessness, crumbling infrastructure, hijacked buildings, low revenue collection, a housing backlog and illegal immigration. 

Morero previously said that without the AFD-backed loan the city faced a R2bn shortfall for 2024/25. 

ActionSA, which held a two-day senate meeting at the weekend, said it had reconsidered its position not to enter into a coalition arrangement with the ANC. 

“Action SA is at pains to observe that our past commitments preclude the party from entering coalitions with the ANC. Having said this, ActionSA holds enough seats in these municipalities and cannot allow instability to persist to the detriment of the residents of these cities while capable of being a constructive opposition,” party chairperson Michael Beaumont, said. 

“ActionSA’s senate has begun a two-day session to respond to calls from our councillors in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni to reconsider our relationship with other parties and the role that the ActionSA can play in respect of stabilising governance and service delivery in these two Gauteng metros.

“It is the experience of most residents of these two cities that service delivery has ground to a halt as a direct consequence of instability and coalition partners who have sought to exact demands in decision-making that have nothing to do with the residents of the municipality in question.”

The formation of a new multiparty working agreement could cause another change in the mayoral position, which is being occupied by Al-Jama-ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda. The party has three seats in the 270-seater council.

Gwamanda inherited the mayoral committee of his predecessor, Thapelo Amad, which is largely dominated by ANC councillors:

• Finance MMC: Dada Morero (ANC).
• Group corporate and shared services: Loyiso Masuku (ANC).
• Environment & infrastructure services: Jack Sekwaila (ANC).
• Development planning: Eunice Mgcina (ANC).
• Economic development: Nomoya Daphney Mnisi (ANC).
• Public safety: Mgcini Tshwaku (EFF).
• Health & social development: Ennie Makhafola (EFF).
• Transport: Kenny Kunene (Patriotic Alliance).
• Human settlements: Anthea Leitch (Patriotic Alliance) who has since resigned.
• Community development: Lubabalo Magwentshu (ATM).

With Luyolo Mkentane 

maekot@businesslive.co.za