PA national chairperson and Sol Plaatje Municipality councillor Marlon Daniels and PA premier candidate Sharifa Obaray Ferris. Picture: Sandi Kwon Hoo
THE PATRIOTIC Alliance (PA) has decided to end its coalition with the ANC in the Northern Cape for a second time.
PA national chairperson and Sol Plaatje Municipality councillor Marlon Daniels stated that they would no longer work with the ANC in any council in the Province.
“We will rather abstain from voting or vote on a motion according to its merits. In politics, I love power and I love to empower others. We refuse to be treated like fodder by the ANC. We are nobody’s little brother. The ANC needs us more than we need them because ANC councillors are forever absent from council meetings which leaves them in the minority,” said Daniels.
He added that they were only offered a “ceremonial” member of the mayoral committee (MMC) seat, where they were unable to make any inroads in improving service delivery.
“No one will dictate to us, because we need to represent the people who voted us in.”
Daniels also accused Sol Plaatje executive mayor Kagisho Sonyoni of being “a little boy who has no clue about politics”.
“While I was running away from my captors who wanted to detain me without a trial, Sonyoni was not born yet, he is still a child.”
He indicated that since the provincial ANC leadership met with them to resolve their differences to prevent them from ending their power-sharing agreement, matters had continued to deteriorate in council.
“The ruling party has refused to appoint me as a member of the mayoral committee for community services because they are afraid of what I may uncover.”
Daniels criticised the municipality for not filling vacant, funded posts as well as cadre deployment.
“There are between 240 to 270 expanded public works programme workers who were signed up until 2026. My aim was to create employment for all voters regardless of the party that they belong to.”
PA provincial premier candidate Sharifa Obaray Ferris added that following their withdrawal from the ANC coalition, the mayor was refusing to attend to service delivery complaints.
“We assist voters from all parties and when our councillors requested teams to attend to leaking pipes and sewage issues or residents without water in various areas of the city including Greenpoint, Homevale, Colville and Florianville, the mayor instead lamented that we had left the coalition,” said Ferris.
She pointed out that should the ANC lose the by-election in ward 1 next year, it would “drastically” change the dynamics in council.
“We have been involved in cleaning projects in Roodepan, not because of the upcoming by-election following the death of the ANC councillor, but because we are interested in making a difference in the lives of the community. We were prevented from fixing the Roodepan swimming pool with funds that we had raised, so that children could cool themselves off over the holidays. There are no recreational facilities in the area.”
Ferris stated that they had requested the municipality to maintain the Roodepan flats and hand them over to residents.
“The place is falling apart and poses a danger to residents. People will take pride in their homes if they own the flats. To date we have not received any feedback.”
The spokesperson for the Office of the Mayor, Keobakile Musunse, stated that the municipality was on the ground, unblocking drains and fixing roads in ward 1.
“It is the prerogative of the municipality to fix the Roodepan swimming pool and we are doing just that,” said Musunse.
She added that the PA chief whip, Emile Adams, was serving on the MMC for community services.
“Daniels does not know the mayor - he is not from here and has had a maximum of two encounters with him. The PA is being malicious and is not even focused on service delivery. They are the pot that is calling the kettle black.”