South Africa's ANC to Push for New Vote in Nation's Capital

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s ruling party wants a new election in the nation’s capital, Pretoria, and plans to call a motion of no confidence in the city’s mayor, who is a member of the national opposition Democratic Alliance.

The motion against Solly Msimanga will add to earlier attempts to remove the DA mayors of Johannesburg, the economic hub, and the coastal city of Port Elizabeth. The African National Congress lost control of these three major cities to the opposition in 2016 municipal elections in which its support fell to the lowest since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

“Parties in the respective councils have spent more time discussing motions of no confidence rather than serving our people,” the ANC in Gauteng province said in an emailed statement. “The final resolution that will restore order and sanity in all these municipalities is to have a fresh mandate so that the ANC can have a clear mandate.”

The DA’s Jonathan Lawack was removed as speaker of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, which includes Port Elizabeth, in a no-confidence vote on Monday, Cape Town-based News24 reported. The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters’ new motion against the city’s mayor Athol Trollip will be debated after the council elects a new speaker, municipal manager Johann Mettler said by phone.

The ANC will introduce the motion against Msimanga on Thursday and will nominate its regional chairman, Kgosi Maepa, to replace him.

“We are confident that should we go for elections the ANC will emerge victorious,” the party said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rene Vollgraaff in Johannesburg at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net;Ntando Thukwana in Johannesburg at nthukwana@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Gordon Bell

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