Economic Freedom Fighter deputy leader, Floyd Shivambu, flexed his party's muscles in Nelson Mandela Bay on Friday, presenting a memorandum of demands to Mongameli Bobani who he described as a "caretaker mayor".
The EFF deputy leader led a group of party supporters to City Hall to hand-over the list of demands which included "non-negotiables" like the electrification of all informal settlements and insourcing of Municipal staff hired via labour brokers.
Speaking to the media afterwards, Shivambu said that there should be no negotiations on their demands because no party had an outright victory in the 2016 local government elections, adding that "the EFF holds the power balance".
"We are not going to negotiate with people who are caretaker mayors. When we demand services to be given to the informal settlements, it must happen," he charged.
Meanwhile, responding to a question about whether or not the EFF would enter into a coalition with other parties, including the ANC, after the elections, Shivambu said they are in it to win it.
"We are contesting elections with the aim of winning. If there are coalitions we'll discuss coalitions then. Now, we are focussed on winning. We are in fact talking about how we can configure the Ministries, not coalitions," Shivambu said.
Earlier on Friday, he addressed a poorly-attended event in the Nelson Mandela Bay's Northern Areas where unemployment and gangsterism were issues highlighted by members of the community.
Responding to the demands, Mayor Bobani said: "all these are service delivery matters which, as this government, we are in the process of ensuring that we are doing them".
"However, we will actually make sure that whatever we are doing, we are doing it within the prescripts of the law".
