Cape Town — Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Gauteng leader, Solly Msimanga, said his party was happy to be the opposition in the province and to do so effectively, after the Gauteng Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) announcement.
After no party secured an outright majority in Gauteng, the Democratic Alliance (DA) entered coalition talks with the African National Congress (ANC). However, following deadlocked negotiations, the DA withdrew and chose to become the opposition.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Msimanga said negotiations broke down after the two parties could not agree on the seats allocated to each party. The DA wanted three seats following the percentage of votes received but the ANC wanted seven, including Premier.
“Minimum for them (ANC) was getting seven seats in the cabinet plus one seat of the premier. So they wanted to have eight seats in the cabinet and make sure they only give three seats to the DA and other parties. That is something that we were not prepared to do,” Msimanga said.
The DA decided not to take part in the provincial government of unity in Gauteng following a failure to reach an agreement with the ANC. Gauteng DA leader Solly Msimanga says what the ANC has given other parties will not have an impact on the lives of Gauteng residents.
Watch:… pic.twitter.com/jIUNQk1JRe
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) July 4, 2024
According to IOL, Msimanga said the positions created for the IFP, Patriotic Alliance, and Rise Mzansi were actually “diluted” and ineffective in service delivery.
“Those departments have been diluted now to be absolutely nothing. The powers of those departments have been taken away. I’ll give an example, the Department of e-Gov has never been a standalone, it’s always been merged either with infrastructure or in the last term, it was always merged with Cogta (Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs),” he said.
He said the parties would not be able to do much as the Department of Agriculture has never been standalone, and has been with Economic Development, and it exists as a form of agro-processing and cannot be married to the Economic Development portfolio.
Msimanga said the ANC has now taken 98% of the budget and power and given only 2% to those coming in as partners, which will not have any impact on the people of Gauteng, which the DA did not want to be part of.
“That has also been stripped, and it is laughable to then say you are now having a Department of Environment that talks to helping municipalities to clean up. Really? That is a joke of note. This doesn’t talk to real power sharing. The ANC has exposed itself that they did not want partners, they wanted voters,” said Msimanga.
The DA’s Solly Msimanga just threatened that @Our_DA will make it difficult for the government of Gauteng to pass budgets & deliver services to residents, as the DA is not part of the Provincial unity government after the DA negotiators didn’t get the positions they wanted pic.twitter.com/VQ3p51WPEd
— TheeTRUTH (@TheeTRUTH2) July 4, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
