ActionSA’s decision to leave the multi-party coalition in Tshwane threatens the city’s future, said the Democratic Alliance (DA), as a Motion of No Confidence against Mayor Cilliers Brink is expected to be tabled on Thursday.

The DA said ActionSA’s move has created political instability in the city.

“Despite the successes achieved by the Tshwane coalition in the past 18 months, ActionSA’s dismal performance in the 2024 general election seems to have driven the party to realign itself to a faction of the [African National Congress, or ANC] opposed to the Government of National Unity (GNU) as well as the Economic Freedom Fighters. The same ANC faction, led by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, resisted efforts to form a Government of Provincial Unity, and has championed the ANC’s disastrous coalitions with the EFF in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni,” said DA Tshwane spokesperson Kwena Moloto.

He said the DA had tried, several times, to persuade the ANC to withdraw the motion against Brink.

“The motion was first initiated in July this year, and the Lesufi faction of the ANC have been hard at work to drive a wedge between Tshwane coalition partners. In Mashaba, it found a useful idiot,” Moloto said.

He said talks between the ANC and DA to stabilise Tshwane and other Gauteng metros could have taken place if the motion had not been called.

The DA accused the ANC in Gauteng of having the “upper hand” in the power relations within the party, saying this threatened the GNU.

“With the support of the EFF and ActionSA, the motion of no confidence in Mayor Brink will succeed. This will enable the Lesufi faction of the ANC to collude with the EFF and the manipulatable, politically incompetent ActionSA to gain control of the Tshwane Metro. This is the same ANC faction that succeeded in dissolving the city council and placing the municipality under administration in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, a move eventually overturned by the Constitutional Court,” Moloto said.

He added that if Brink was removed, the DA would once again nominate him for Mayor in an election.

“We will be ready to approach the courts, if necessary, to prevent the City of Tshwane from being destroyed from within. We will not abandon the people of Tshwane, even if circumstances temporarily force us out of government,” he said.