Picture File: Councillors in the City of Joburg council chambers in Braamfontein on 30 September 2022. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
The African National Congress (ANC) has officially announced its endorsement of Kabelo Gwamanda, a relatively unknown councillor from Al Jamah-ah, as their candidate for the position of mayor in the City of Johannesburg.
The ANC’s endorsement of Gwamanda comes in the wake of a failed attempt to elect a new mayor earlier this week. Councillors from the metro will convene on Friday for a second round of voting to elect a replacement for Thapelo Amad, a councillor from Al Jama-ah who resigned from the position last month.
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Briefing the media outside council chambers in Braamfontein, ANC Gauteng provincial chair Panyaza Lesufi said the party’s caucus, together with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other smaller parties, will vote for Gwamanda as the new mayor.
Lesufi was confident that the ANC and its coalition partners – including the Patriotic Alliance (PA), which wanted Kenny Kunene to be nominated as mayor – will vote overwhelmingly in support of Gwamanda.
“This morning, we had a scheduled session of the government of local unity with our coalition partners. We unanimously endorsed and agreed that Kabelo Gwamanda will be nominated as a candidate of representing the government of local unity forces,” he said.
“We are quite excited Al Jamah-ah has accepted our recommendation. We concluded our internal consultation as the ANC and unanimously endorsed the name, and we are happy this morning that all political parties, including the Patriotic Alliance, endorsed the name.”
The Gauteng ANC’s decision to vote for Gwamanda as their mayoral candidate appears to contradict the new policy on coalition governments set by the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC).
In the recent NEC meeting, it was resolved that all ANC structures should only form coalitions with parties that agree to allow the party with the highest number of council seats to assume the position of mayor.
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According to Lesufi, the leadership of the ANC in Gauteng received permission from the national officials to deviate from the new policy.
“We allowed the national leadership to come and explain the new framework, and after the explanation of the framework, we unanimously agreed that at this present juncture – the view and the support for minority parties to lead authorities in our province is still relevant and within the framework.”
Lesufi added the decision to support another councillor from Al Jamah-ah for the mayoral post was based on “principle”.
“The mayor that resigned came from Al Jamah-ah and the replacement must come from Al Jamah-ah.
“We’re just doing a replacement; we’re not reconstituting a new government. That’s why you will see immediately after his election he [Gwamanda] will announce his mayoral committee today,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has chosen former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse as their candidate for the mayoral position, while ActionSA has put forward Funzi Ngobeni as their candidate. Ngobeni has received support from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
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