17 000 says no to EFF-ANC coalition: AfriForum hands over petition to Tshwane’s coalition partners
Listen to the plea of the residents! This is the urgent appeal that the civil rights organisation AfriForum directed to the Tshwane Metro’s coalition partners today when it handed over the petition signed by 17 000 residents of this metro. Through this petition, residents called upon the coalition partners to leave no stone unturned to keep the Tshwane Metro out of the hands of an ANC-EFF coalition.
The member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) and Chairperson of the Coalition Management Committee (CMC), Jacqui Uys, as well as other representatives of the coalition, took delivery of the petition at the metro’s headquarters, Tshwane House.
AfriForum’s appeal follows in response to ActionSA’s announcement over the weekend that the party decided to step away from the coalition with the DA, VF Plus, ACDP and IFP. This greatly increases the threat of a possible coalition with the EFF and ANC.
In a media statement yesterday, ActionSA indicated that their decision was made in the public’s interest and that the party “remains steadfast in its determination to see clean and effective governance at national, provincial, and municipal levels”.
In light of this, AfriForum therefore calls upon ActionSA to uphold this noble pursuit and in the interest of the city’s residents, reconsider their decision to withdraw from the multiparty coalition.
“Through AfriForum’s petition, residents took an indisputable stand against a possible EFF-ANC coalition and made it clear that they do not want to see the Tshwane Metro again prioritise the ANC over its residents,” emphasises Ernst van Zyl, Head of Public Relations at AfriForum.
According to Van Zyl, residents’ fears are not without merit, and last week Fikile Mbalula, Secretary-General of the ANC, made it clear that the new Tshwane coalition “must serve the ANC and residents”. That leaves no uncertainty about the priorities of an ANC-EFF coalition, warns Van Zyl.
He furthermore warns that parties who cast in their lot with the EFF must be ashamed of themselves. “It is preposterous that a party like the EFF, who undermines the supremacy of the law, sows discord and, during a recent municipal council meeting, even expressed a desire to ‘m**r a Boer’, will now possibly be part of a new municipal government,” Van Zyl concludes.
Visit www.redpretoria.co.za and add your name to the petition to do away with any doubts regarding residents’ stance about an ANC-EFF coalition.
