South Africa: ANC Wants Johannesburg Back

23 August 2023
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Zukile Majova

The ANC is set to negotiate a takeover of the City of Johannesburg with Dada Morero returning as executive mayor.

The R80 billion city of over six million residents is currently governed by an ANC-led coalition but with Al Jama-ah councillor Kabelo Gwamanda as mayor.

The instruction for the ANC in Gauteng to enter into discussion with its coalition partners to return Morero to full control of the city came from President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This is a last-ditch attempt by the ruling party to bolster its fight to win Gauteng province during the 2024 national and provincial elections.

To achieve this, the ANC has already yielded control of Ekurhuleni to the EFF in an informal partnership.

The ANC is hoping the same partnership would now guarantee it the mayoral chain in Johannesburg.

This would set a new record in political instability in the city as this would be the city's sixth mayor since the December 2021 elections.

As the ANC prepares to move the deck chairs on its ship, ActionSA is posing a motion of no confidence against Gwamanda on 31 August.

The party claims Gwamanda is an ANC puppet mayor who faces criminal charges for running a dodgy funeral scheme.

Gwamanda failed to lead the city when a methane gas leak resulted in a major explosion in the service tunnel under Bree Street in July.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi appeared to be leading the immediate response strategy for the city and chairing its press conferences.

ActionSA also said: "Gwamanda has also repeatedly shielded his very own executive when they were found to be overreaching, especially with (the) Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Development, Nomoya Mnisi, remaining in office despite damning allegations that she directed a city entity to pay the ANC Youth League close to a million rand."

The vote of no confidence on Gwamanda would be a litmus test for the DA-led coalition, which lost control of the city because the DA top leadership would not work with the EFF.

The opposition coalition has since collapsed. A recent gathering of seven opposition parties that formed the Multi-Party Charter for SA could rebuild the coalition in Johannesburg and other metros in Gauteng.

 

Read the original article on Scrolla.

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