2018 has taught us many things, and one of those things is that the DA and the EFF aren’t ever going to be comfy bedfellows.

The parties may have played nice when they had a common enemy (the Jacob Zuma-led ANC), but now that the crook-in-chief has been ousted that coalition is rapidly unravelling.

It’s a mess up in Nelson Mandela Bay, where Athol Trollip insists he remains the Mayor, despite being booted from the position in an EFF-sponsored motion of no confidence.

The DA says it will challenge the move in the Eastern Cape High Court, but the message from the EFF to the DA was loud and clear.

Julius Malema has been very vocal about taking down DA mayors of late, and with Trollip out of the picture (for now, possibly, pending the court’s findings), attention moved to Tshwane and taking down executive mayor Solly Msimanga.

Things didn’t go to plan, though, and the DA used the rulebook to leave the EFF and the ANC with a bloody nose. Times LIVE reports:

It was not supposed to be like this. The ANC and the EFF have the numerical superiority in the Tshwane council and their joint motion against Msimanga should easily have enjoyed a majority. But just as speaker Katlego Mathebe introduced the EFF’s motion to council, DA councillor and member of the mayoral committee for economic development Randall Williams rose to throw a spanner in the works.

He objected, saying the EFF motion should be disallowed because the party did not motivate for its urgency in writing, as per the rules of council. That immediately threatened the EFF’s endgame because it meant they would be forced to support the ANC’s motion, which the DA did not have procedural issues with.

Mathebe agreed with Williams, and with that one stroke of political genius the DA was able to ensure that Msimanga [above, thoroughly enjoying the decision] lived to fight another day. Mathebe’s ruling caught the EFF by surprise. So used are they to getting their way politically that they were left with no option but to stage a walkout and threaten to take the decision on review in the North Gauteng High Court.

Wow, the EFF walking out of a political gathering when they don’t get their way – reminds me of every single State of the Nation address of recent times.

EFF leader in council Benjamin Disoloane shouted his disapproval at Mathebe, saying the speaker was “declaring a war against us”, before the party exited the chambers.

That left the ANC with their tails between their legs:

For the ANC though, it was a political train smash. With the EFF having walked out, there was no way that its own motion against the executive mayor would go through without the red berets’ 25 seats. After a lengthy caucus break, ANC whip in council Aaron Maluleka announced that they were also withdrawing their motion and heading to court.

In what is basically a giant mic drop, DA members chanted “Solly, Solly, Solly” and basked in the fact they lived to fight another day.

Msimanga himself was understandably stoked:

“I remain undeterred in the face of these motions of no confidence in which the ANC attempts to depose the city’s government only to re-establish their networks of patronage, corruption and plundering the city’s coffers.

“We will not be deterred by the political posturing and grandstanding of the ANC,” he said in a statement afterwards.

Enjoy it while it lasts. With the big bad bogeyman, JZ himself, now out of the picture, all DA leaders have a target on their back.

[source:timeslive]