South Africa’s biggest parties are at odds over the governance of the country’s largest city, putting further strain on a tenuous national coalition.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) governs the country in a partnership with the larger African National Congress (ANC), but is the main opposition party in Johannesburg, where it has called for a motion of no confidence in the mayor. It has also filed criminal cases accusing the city’s property company of corruption and its head of culpable homicide related to a building fire. It has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to order an investigation.

The 10-party national coalition has held together since it was formed in June last year after elections failed to produce an outright winner, even though its members have sparred over the budget and several laws that are aimed at addressing racial inequality. But the ANC ousted the DA from running the capital, Pretoria, and they failed to reach agreement on co-governing Johannesburg.

“In some instances, the ANC and DA leaders have been struggling to convince their party rank-and-files that they need to work together, and the squabbling at municipal and provincial level only makes their task more difficult,” said Melanie Verwoerd, an independent analyst and former ANC lawmaker.

Shifting coalitions since 2016 local elections have hamstrung management of the city of about 6-million people, which has had 10 mayors since then. Residents are subjected to regular power and water outages due to poorly maintained infrastructure and streets are riddled with potholes. That dysfunction persisted in periods when the city was run by DA mayor.

“We are left with no choice but to ask the President himself to intervene,” Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, the DA’s caucus leader in the city, said in a statement this week. Mismanagement “and the general decay in Johannesburg” were the reasons it is seeking to oust Mayor Dada Morero, she said.

The DA’s criminal complaints relate to what it alleges is a decade of financial mismanagement and corruption at the property company and the death of 76 people in a 2023 fire in a downtown building it owns.

The Johannesburg Property Company said Helen Botes, its chief executive officer, was previously investigated over corruption allegations by the state’s Special Investigating Unit, but a lawyer it appointed to review those findings in 2021 recommended not proceeding with a case. It said it couldn’t comment on the culpable-homicide allegation. The city of Johannesburg didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

Morero hasn’t commented publicly on the no-confidence motion or the latest allegations against the property firm. Earlier this year the South African Municipal Workers Union protested against the lack of action taken by the mayor against the property firm. Morero has previously suspended city politicians facing allegations of malfeasance.

The ANC has about a third of the seats in the 270-seat council while the DA has just over a quarter. Previous no-confidence motions called in the Johannesburg council have had limited success and changes in government haven’t made marked changes to service delivery. Local government elections are scheduled for next year.

Morero has “abused his power,” Kayser-Echeozonjoku said in an interview, stating that the mayor has ignored the DA’s representations despite the ANC lacking a majority in the council. “We want him out because we don’t believe he’s going to self-correct.”