The Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus will take up seats as the official opposition in the City of Tshwane, after Mayor Cilliers Brink was removed through a Motion of No Confidence on Thursday.

The motion was brought by the African National Congress (ANC), which had previously filed two motions against Brink, both having been withdrawn before they could be voted on.

Earlier on Thursday, DA Tshwane spokesperson Kwena Moloto said the withdrawal of ActionSA from the Tshwane Multiparty Coalition plunged the city into political instability, and now threatened its future.

DA Gauteng provincial leader Solly Msimanga said ActionSA has “disrupted” the course of progress and unity that the Tshwane Multiparty Coalition government worked to build.

ActionSA pulled out of the Tshwane coalition with the DA to join the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in kicking out Brink.

“ActionSA's backstabbing played right into the hands of the ANC's power hunger. The ANC has no interest in good governance in Tshwane but wants to pillage and steal from a stabilised government. This will no doubt destabilise Tshwane and ActionSA is duly complicit in this power grab,” said Msimanga.

He said the “doomsday coalition” the DA had warned against in the run-up to the recent national elections had now taken over Tshwane, issuing a warning to the City of Johannesburg and City of Ekurhuleni.

“A future of urban decay and service delivery failure lies ahead for the good citizens of Tshwane. Once parties get a scent of what they perceive to be power, evidently, they sacrifice constitutional principles for the fulfilment of misplaced personal vendettas,” Msimanga stated.

He highlighted that ActionSA broke the coalition under the guise of change.

“The trust and aspirations of every citizen who believed that Tshwane could in fact work, has been broken. Make no mistake, what unfolded in the council chambers today will only stunt the economic and societal advancements we’ve worked so hard to bring about. Trust in Tshwane’s institutions, especially financial institutions, has been destroyed today,” he said.

The DA said it would now closely watch any attempt to reverse disciplinary action against the five senior officials implicated in the irregular Rooiwal tender, and any attempt to remove professional, non-political senior managers to clear the way for fraud, corruption, and interference with tenders.

The party will also look out for any attempt to direct officials to award tenders to companies associated with the ANC and EFF.