Johannesburg residents await mayorship decision as politicians stall

The future of Johannesburg’s mayorship appears to hinge on negotiations among ANC Gauteng, Al Jama-ah, and Action SA. These three groups will determine Kabelo Gwamanda’s fate as the city’s political leader.

‘Sasabona wants the limelight,’ says Al Jama-ah’s Hendricks

Al Jama-ah leader and founder Ganief Hendricks – who is now also the deputy minister of social development in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of national unity (GNU) executive – says there is no set timeline set for Gwamanda’s rumoured resignation as mayor of the City of Johannesburg.

“It is not true that mayor Gwamanda will be out before the end of August [2024] as the ANC Johannesburg secretary Sasabona Manganye says,” Hendricks told The South African.

This was in response to Manganye’s statement last week, where he told Newzroom Afrika‘s Xoli Mngambi that Gwamanda’s exit as mayor was imminent.

“It will be before the end of August. We believe those discussions will be done probably in a week or two, and we can be able to have the new executive mayor that will come from the African National Congress,” Manganye said last week.

Gwamanda is out as Johannesburg mayor. But when and how?

It is a near certainty that Gwamanda will be replaced with ANC Johannesburg chairperson Dada Morero as the new mayor, with Hendricks telling The South African that ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi had tasked him and TK Nciza – the ANC Gauteng secretary – with sorting out the timelines and mechanics.

And from what can be deciphered from statements by both Manganye and Hendricks, it seems this move to replace Gwamanda is a long time in the making.

Gwamanda was installed last year and before him, Thapelo Amad – also from Al Jama-ah – was the mayor between 27 January 2024 and 24 April 2024. Now it looks like the ANC’s turn to hold the mayoral chains.

Enter Action SA in the mix

Slap bang in the middle of the ANC-Al Jama-ah nexus, is Action SA and their dealings with the liberation movement.

These dealings led to an agreement that the ANC would get the mayorship while Action SA would get the council speaker position, replacing incumbent Margaret Arnolds of the African Independent Congress.

Between the two parties, they are one seat short of the required 136 seats (ANC – 91 + Action SA – 44 = 135 seats) out of a total 270 council seats. Where this one seat will come from is anyone’s guess.

Hendricks says they will back an ANC or majority-coalition candidate as mayor but they will not vote for an Action SA candidate for speaker of council.

But now the delay in implementing this agreement with the ANC has left Action SA leader Herman Mashaba seemingly anxious.

Mashaba told The Citizen that he had left it up to the ANC to handle the transition because of its role as leader in the council but it seems his patience is wearing thin.

“The mayor has got to go. Negotiations are underway with the mayor at the same time. We want the ANC to understand that we do not have time,” he said.

And don’t forget civil society’s disapproval of Gwamanda. At the weekend, they gathered to agitate for his removal as mayor, citing crumbling infrastructure and the contentious R200 electricity surcharge, among other complaints,

Johannesburg citizens need certainty in light of R2.5 billion loan

All of these deals, and delays in implementation, leave the City of Johannesburg’s residents in limbo.

Everyday, signs of decay in the city’s infrastructure become more apparent to ordinary residents. Water cuts, potholes and “load reduction” – load shedding by another name – continue to cripple businesses and people’s lives.

And now with the city’s council having recently approved a R2.5 billion loan from French financier, Agence Française de Développement, to alleviate a R2 billion budget shortfall for 2024-2025, the questions are: Who will be the mayor tasked with using these funds to improve the richest city in Africa? Will that mayor stick around long enough to do so, or will he or she become another casualty of coalition politics?