The ANC’s Joburg regional secretary, Sasabona Manganye, told media outlets on Monday that a new mayor will come from their party, replacing Kabelo Gwamanda.
In recent weeks, civic organisations have been plotting to remove Gwamanda from office, to the extent of holding a picket, claiming poor service delivery, delayed infrastructure development and extreme tariff increases, particularly, the R200 energy surcharge.
Manganye stated that the new mayor will be elected after the ANC’s senior executive concludes internal talks, giving the green light to engage with its coalition partners, suggesting ActionSA among other parties.
“We are just finalising a few consultative meetings with our national executive council. As soon as we are given the go-ahead, we will engage with our coalition partners. We will get the mayor to resign, and an extraordinary council will be convened to elect the new mayor of Johannesburg coming from the ANC,” said Manganye.
He said discussions should conclude by the end of the week, aligning with the ANC’s provincial secretary-general, Thembinkosi Nciza, who said the mayor-apparent would be appointed towards the end of the week.
However, Gwamanda told The Star that he shall carry on his duties until further communication from parties as the metro is governed under the Government of Local Unity (GLU).
“The mayor remains in office and is engaged with his duties. Any developments politically that affect his role will be communicated as such by the parties in the Government of Local Unity,” said Gwamanda.
The leader of Al Jama-ah, Ganief Hendricks, said the mayor will step aside on condition he is made deputy mayor on the basis of their allegiance with the ANC, including the EFF.
A broad coalition of the ANC, EFF and Al Jama-ah had Gwamanda appointed the metro’s mayor last year.
“There will be an arrangement, where the ANC will put in place a mayoral candidate that is acceptable to nine political parties. If that is the case, we are prepared to discuss how this must be done. One of our options is for Gwamanda to be deputy mayor to continue the good work that he has been doing, because we cannot trust anyone else to continue the work he has done,” said Hendricks.
Meanwhile, the DA is pursuing legal action against the Joburg municipality to stop the planned salary increases for senior municipal managers as outlined in Notice 4897 of May 30, which was presented before council members on July 31.
Officials are set to receive salary increases backdated from July last year, costing ratepayers a staggering R1.5 million.
The DA’s Joburg chief whip, Nicole Rahn, slammed the local government for paying officials bloated salaries while the city’s purse is bankrupt, further infringing on service delivery.
“It is no surprise that the ANC-led coalition in Joburg allowed this to pass. These (salary) increases are an indictment against the City. While taps run dry, electricity stays off, and roads vanish into dust. The priority surely cannot be to increase an already bloated wage bill. The worst of it all, is that the people who will now benefit from these increases are the very same people who cannot meet their key performance indicators,” said Rahn.
“The DA will continue to hold the ANC, Patriotic Alliance, EFF, Al Jama-ah coalition accountable and make our inputs at the section 79 committees to ensure that the key performance areas are monitored and make proposals to ensure residents get the services they pay for.”
The Star