Everyone’s heard the word ‘coalition’ enough these past few months, but if you thought everyone was going to work together for the betterment of South Africa going forward you’d be wrong.

The ANC are still smarting from their losses in Jozi and Tshwane, with the latter a real point of contention.

With Tshwane’s executive mayor Solly Msimanga pulling the plug on lavish government spending (HERE), the city is set for a massive shake up in the coming months and years.

Rather than pulling in the same direction, the ANC now stand accused of attempts to sabotage the new administration. Here’s TimesLive:

Since the DA took over the running of the municipality after the August 3 local government elections, land has been invaded in Pretoria’s Fort West, Mamelodi East, Nellmapius, Ga-Rankuwa and Soshanguve.

…in Nellmapius land is being “sold” for as little as R100 by, among others, the treasurer of the Nellmapius branch of the ANC Women’s League, Salome Tau.

[She said] all that was needed for a piece of land near the N4 highway was R100 and a shack.

She said people must take over the land and return to it when the authorities evicted them.

When [an undercover] reporter revealed his identity later and questioned her actions, Tau denied knowledge of the land invasion.

“I only went there to check what is happening and maybe people saw me there and thought I was part of it,” she said.

She denied telling The Times reporter to claim land and erect a shack, saying she was “misunderstood”.

If you had R10 for every time a South African politician was forced into a blathering apology, you’d have enough cash to solve our housing crisis pronto.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, because Tau isn’t acting alone:

Two independent sources have fingered at least nine ANC members – three serving in the ANC branch executive committee in Nellmapius – as masterminds behind the land grab near the N4 and in extension 1.

A source in the ANC, who asked for anonymity for fear of victimisation, said she was surprised to see familiar local senior ANC faces taking money from people for a piece of land when she tried to get land for her brother.

The 45-year-old resident said at least 290 people had each paid R100 and been allocated plots.

“What is happening is a political game at the expense of poor people. The intention is to cause trouble for the new administration,” she said.

South Africa is far unique in this department, but how sad a world we live in when citizens are treated as pawns in a larger political game.

There’s such a thing as being a gracious loser, but I doubt we’ll see much of that on display in Gauteng any time soon.

[source:timeslive]