Dear Ekurhuleni Residents,

When the DA unexpectedly won the mayoral election in Ekurhuleni in November 2021 with the support of a multiparty coalition, we found the municipality in a terrible state. The previous ANC administration had burnt through the cash reserves and the metro was almost bankrupt.

The root cause of this was cadre deployment and corruption. We used our time in office to start cleaning up, unravel dodgy tenders, and stabilise the municipalities finances. We found facilities that were built but never opened, we found contracts that were being paid but not fulfilled. In short, we found a failing system.

We knew we had to fight back. We concluded that the starting point  was to conduct lifestyle audits on politicians in the city. In September 2022, we brought a motion to council to subject every single councillor to a lifestyle audit. It would affect the councillors of every party.  We resolved that every discrepancy or problem we found would have consequences.

We knew this would expose the corrupt ANC – and unsurprisingly, the ANC voted against this measure. However, we still managed to get this passed in Council.

Two weeks after our decision to conduct lifestyle audits, the ANC immediately tabled a motion to remove us from government. The timing is not a co-incidence. The ANC has mis-ruled the metro for 20 years, and the risk of all their misdeeds being uncovered and exposed by our coalition government was too much for them.

The DA will not stop fighting, in opposition or government. We have also refused to cut any deal with the EFF to stay in power.

The most important thing to learn from this hard lesson is the following:  In Ekurhuleni, the DA was only 9% behind the ANC in the last election. If we stand together, and avoid splitting the vote, we can get rid of the ANC once and for all in the coming years.

In the meantime, we will keep fighting for you every day.

Best Wishes,
Tania Campbell
Former Mayor of Ekurhuleni