South Africa: City of Joburg's Attempt to Elect Mayor Stalls Again After ANC Caucus Throws Spanner in the Works

Filip Maljković / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Johannesburg City Council Chamber building in 2018.
3 May 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Queenin Masuabi

Tuesday's sitting of the turbulent City of Johannesburg Council, in which a new mayor was supposed to be voted in, was marred by delays, leading to an adjournment until Friday.

Al Jama-ah councillor Kabelo Gwamanda's mayoral candidacy appeared to be set in stone for the ANC and EFF-led coalition until the governing party's caucus expressed a desire to field their own candidate for mayor of the City of Johannesburg.

The key metro position is vacant after Al Jama-ah's Thapelo Amad quit as mayor ahead of a motion of no confidence against him just more than a week ago.

A number of sources within the party's Johannesburg region explained that Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi and secretary Thembinkosi "TK" Nciza were at the council meeting to brief councillors about the direction the informal coalition would be taking in voting for a new mayor. This, however, met strong opposition from caucus members who believed that regional chairperson Dada Morero should be their candidate.

Speaking to Daily Maverick, ANC Johannesburg secretary Sasabona Manganye confirmed that the caucus raised issues about Gwamanda's candidacy. He explained that the main argument from the perspective of the caucus was based on the new ANC framework, which states that the biggest party in a coalition should be elected mayor. However, the ANC had very little room to change its posture because of its agreement with the...

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