Durban — The Active Citizens Coalition party in eThekwini says it had voted to keep the ANC in power because of its support for Palestine.
The party was one of the smaller parties in the City that were labelled as sell-outs by the main opposition parties, who wanted the mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, removed at all costs in a motion of confidence that was held on Wednesday. During the debate, ACC leader Imtiaz Syed shocked many when he announced that his party was going to vote against the motion.
This was despite his failed attempt to remove Kaunda in a motion of confidence that was filed by himself in January last year. In that meeting, numbers were favouring the opposition as ACC and other smaller parties, including Philani Mavundla’s Abatho Bantu Congress, had dumped the ANC. The meeting collapsed because the ANC and EFF did not come to the meeting, forcing it not to form a quorum. On subsequent motion, Kaunda survived.
Defending his new attitude towards the ANC, Syed said his party was not going to support an apartheid Israel’s regime parties.
“As ACC, we were not willing to be a part of an apartheid Israel’s regime parties to enhance their own political agenda. In principle, we have not voted with the Moonshot Pact in solidarity with the people of Palestine," read the statement.
Furthermore, Syed accused the DA of arrogance, which he said always believes that its position should also be the position of the ACC, adding that the motion was not about the mayor but rather the election campaign for this year's national election. The party added that the numbers on the leader board dictated that even if the ACC did support the motion, it would still fail simply based on the fact that the DA and the IFP did not have all its councillors in council.
Hitting back, the DA provincial chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Dean Macpherson, called Syed a hypocrite and political opportunist who did not care about the people in his constituency who have no water to drink. He challenged him to go and explain that to the people who voted for him and see whether they would accept that.
“What people of eThekwini desperately need is water in their taps and we will ensure that ACC and Syed do not come back in 2026,” said Macpherson.
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