ATM demands written agreement before any Johannesburg coalition
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on TimesLIVE
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) is making any support for a municipal coalition in Johannesburg conditional on a written agreement, with commitments on financial management, public services and a five-year action plan. Its mayoral candidate, Vuyo Zungula, says the party is ready to talk after the 4 November local elections, according to the Sunday Times.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM), a South African party, will not support a coalition running the City of Johannesburg without a written agreement setting out governance arrangements and the responsibilities of its leaders. Its mayoral candidate, Vuyo Zungula, told TimesLIVE that the party was willing to hold talks after the local elections on 4 November, but would not choose between a coalition led by the ANC and one led by the Democratic Alliance before examining their commitments.
The agreement must put financial management, the delivery of municipal services and a detailed five-year action plan at its centre. Zungula believes political promises without written commitments guarantee neither accountability nor continuity in public action.
The ATM bases this position on its experience in coalition administrations. In Johannesburg, a party representative served on the municipal executive committee for about 16 months before being recalled, a decision Zungula attributes to political motives. In Mogale City, ATM councillor Danny Molefi Thupane was given the housing and rural development portfolio in 2021 in an administration led by the Democratic Alliance; he became mayor in April 2023 after DA mayor Tyrone Gray left office.
Zungula also said the ATM had advocated similar safeguards during discussions with the ANC on forming the government of national unity in 2024. Previous coalition experiences had convinced the party that formalised commitments were needed to govern cooperation, he told TimesLIVE.
