The City of Johannesburg coalition between minority parties has effectively collapsed after six of the 10 parties left their WhatsApp group - literally.
The parties use the social media platform to hold meetings and discuss internal issues.
The rift emerged after the minority governing parties (MGP) held their lekgotla via WhatsApp on Thursday, 2 October.
The text battle, which News24 has seen, was over a letter penned by the AIC’s Margaret Arnolds, announcing that six parties would leave the coalition, effectively collapsing the 13-person caucus.
Arnolds left the WhatsApp group on Saturday and five other coalition members followed suit.
Arnolds, however, is adamant that despite the coalition falling apart, the minority parties are still in the government of local unity (GLU), the leading coalition between the ANC, EFF, PA and minority parties.
The regional ANC has had to step in to try to bandage the coalition back together.
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero spoke to News24 in his capacity as the Johannesburg Regional Chairperson.
He said:
The political parties are engaged in the matter. I’m engaging at the level of the ANC [as the ANC provincial secretary].
The “engagement” is set to take place next Monday.
Tensions in the MGP started after some members disagreed with the ANC over positions they believed they were owed for voting with the leading party.
Last month, former mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, who was the MGP interim chair at the time, said the minority parties were considering leaving the coalition if the ANC did not recognise them as the original partners, or founding members, of the GLU.
He pointed to great dissatisfaction within the GLU because he believed minority parties should get the post of finance member of the mayoral committee, which became vacant when Arnolds became the speaker of council again. But the position was given to the ANC’s Loyiso Masuku.
News24 has also seen the letter, which was shared on the MGP WhatsApp group, announcing the withdrawal of the six parties from the MPG, citing “irreconcilable differences” within the coalition as the main reason for their exit.
Arnolds, however, refused to comment further on the matter, saying only that a meeting would take place next week to sort out the issue.
Speaking to News24 on condition of anonymity, a minority party member said Arnolds left the group after a war of words on the social media platform.
The parties that have left the MGP are:
the AIC with two councillors;
the PAC with one councillor;
the APC with one councillor;
the UIM with one councillor;
GOOD with one councillor; and
COPE with one councillor.
The letter was addressed to the rest of the coalition members:
Al Jama-ah with three councillors;
the AHC with one councillor,
the UDM with one councillor; and
the ATM with one councillor.
That the letter was dated last Wednesday, 1 October, a day before their lekgotla, was an issue of concern for the group.
The MGP member who spoke to News24 on Tuesday believes Arnolds may have left because she was demoted as chair of the minority bloc.
They said the fact that the letter was penned last Wednesday, pre-empting the outcome of the lekgotla, showed “malice” on Arnolds’ part.
According to them, the meeting resolution was posted on the WhatsApp group on Saturday, and Arnolds then allegedly posted the letter on the group.
The City of Johannesburg council has 270 seats, and the leading coalition needs to get a majority vote – half the council plus one. So, in order to win, a party or coalition must have at least 136 votes for its candidate mayor.
As it stands, the leading coalition (see below) has 148 votes, while the opposition has 78 votes.
If ActionSA votes with the DA, ACDP and FF Plus, they will have 122 votes. They would need at least 14 more votes to win.
They could approach the minority parties, giving them 13 extra votes; they would need one more vote, which could be garnered from a disgruntled opposition member who votes with the DA, or they could approach the IFP, with seven votes. Similarly, the ANC could work with ActionSA and have a majority vote.
By not voting for a majority party, Johannesburg residents created a government led by coalitions. This gives the smaller parties more power than they would normally have and makes them “kingmakers”.
This was how a party like Al Jama-ah, with only three councillors, had two of them become mayor.
The 13 councillors from the MGP were the original kingmakers for the leading coalition.
While there are ripples in allegiances, the following collaborations stand:
GLU – 148 seats:
ANC – 91 councillors
EFF – 29 councillors
PA – 8 councillors
IFP – 7 councillors
Al Jama-ah – 3 councillors in the MGP
AIC – 2 councillors who split from the MGP
APC – 1 councillor who split from the MGP
PAC – 1 councillor who split from the MGP
UIM – 1 councillor who split from the MGP
GOOD – 1 councillor who split from the MGP
COPE – 1 councillor who split from the MGP
AHC – 1 councillor in the MGP
UDM – 1 councillor in the MGP
ATM – 1 councillor in the MGP
Official opposition – 78 seats:
DA – 71 (Its councillors often work with the parties below, but the party maintains it is not a coalition.)
FF Plus – 4 councillors
ACDP – 3 councillors
Allegiances have not been established or have not been made clear – 44 seats:
ActionSA – 44 councillors have found themselves out in the cold after leaving the DA coalition for the GLU. In June, they did not vote against a motion of no confidence in Morero and later lost their speaker position to Arnolds.
Speaking to News24 on Tuesday, Arnolds said discussions and deliberations within the MGP were still ongoing and that it would be “premature and irresponsible” to comment.
The speaker said all stakeholders would meet on Monday to discuss the issues.
“This is an internal matter that is currently receiving the utmost priority and attention from all coalition partners,” she said.
Arnolds added that the leaking of internal processes was deeply regrettable. She said it appeared the leaking was “intended to create instability within the government”.
“We remain focused on maintaining unity and working constructively towards a resolution.
“There will be no further comment until all coalition partners have met and collectively finalised a way forward,” she said.
According to the letter, the six left the minority block because it was “no longer feasible to continue working within the existing bloc framework”.
It said the coalition had collapsed as most parties had left the bloc.
“Our withdrawal has clear and unavoidable implications: the bloc has collapsed in both substance and form, and it no longer has any legal or political standing unless those remaining reconstitute themselves under a new arrangement other than the minority parties’ bloc in government,” it said.
The letter continued that any continuation under the bloc’s current structure would be “misleading and without lawful basis”.
It said that while the engagement’s objectives “were laudable”, subsequent realities had revealed “irreconcilable differences in approach, priorities and levels of commitment”.
The six parties said they believed minority voices mattered in Johannesburg, and they would continue to “advance the objectives of the current GLU”, even if it was with a new alliance.
The letter also stated that the coalition’s direction did not serve the interests of Johannesburg residents, but that minority party members were in the GLU.
“We extend our best wishes to those who may seek to reorganise under a new framework and remain open to constructive collaboration in future,” it stated.
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