The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) wanted the Democratic Alliance (DA) to change its mayoral candidate in City of Johannesburg.
In not so many words DA leader Mmusi Maimane has confirmed that one of the EFF preconditions going into the coalition talks was to remove Herman Mashaba as the party's mayoral candidate in Johannesburg.
The EFF leader Julius Malema did not reveal their request to the DA City of Johannesburg in the press conference held in Alexandra but it was clear they had asked them to change something.
"The EFF will not be neutral in these politics. We will be voting for IFP in the hung municiplalities in KZN, we will be voting for Service delivery forum in Rustenburg, we will be voting for DA in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and in PE. The DA will get our vote in Johannesburg if they meet one condition we have put to them", Malema said.
Maimane told reporters that they could not come into an agreement with the EFF in the City of Johannesburg because they were not willing change their mayoral candidate.
"The EFF asked us if 'look can you consider what happens with your mayoral candidate in Joburg', and we were quite clear, we asked the people of Johannesburg to vote for Herman Mashaba and Herman Mashaba stands as our candidate," said Maimane.
"We hold strong to that view, to say you can't ask South Africans to vote for a candidate and seek to find a view to change that. We communicate that and we wanted to be clear."
Malema said that they will be voting for the DA in Gauteng metros including Tshwane and Johannesburg. The EFF will also be voting for the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Malema said this does not mean the EFF will be 'going to bed' with the DA but they are opting to vote for them in these municipalities because they are voting against the AN
