Newly elected ANC Joburg leaders to focus on party renewal, replacing DA-led coalition govt, says Morero

The newly elected chairperson of the ANC in the Johannesburg region, Dada Morero, says part of the immediate tasks of the region’s new leaders will be to focus on being an effective opposition party in council, with the aim to “collapse” the DA-led coalition government in Joburg.

ANC Joburg regional conference

Morero was elected this weekend at the 15th ANC Joburg regional conference at the Idle Winds Lodge and Conference Centre in Centurion.

Morero beat his challenger, acting regional chair Eunice Mgcina, by 153 votes. Mgcina received 143 votes.

Morero said the ANC in the region wanted to be an effective opposition party in the Joburg council, and their main task would be to collapse the DA-led coalition government under the leadership of mayor Mpho Phalatse.

“As being effective in opposition, our task is to collapse the current government and of course replace it with a progressive government led by the ANC,” Morero said in an interview with eNCA on Sunday.

The ANC in Gauteng lost control of the province’s three metros of Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni to the DA and other small parties after last November’s local government elections.

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Last week the party in the province also lost some wards to the DA and EFF during by-elections.

‘Protect the image of the ANC’

To gain back the trust of Joburg voters ahead of the next municipal polls, Morero said they wanted to “protect the image of the ANC” by dealing with party members accused of corruption as part of the ANC’s renewal project.

“For us to regain the confidence of the people it would require us to act on those issues that our people are disgruntled about, and part of those issues relates to those who have been accused of wrongdoing in the leadership of the ANC at all levels.

“We will call on those individuals to actually withdraw and leave the party, for now, to allow the ANC to do its work. Cleaning and renewing [the party] it’s a painful process, but it’s a process we are willing to undergo,” he said.

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Morero said they would also focus on reorganising the ANC’s structures in the region to prepare them for the party’s renewal project.

“We will be going back to our branches in the next three weeks to prepare them, give them reports, and tell them what our expectations and conference resolutions are.

“Part of the task is to ensure that the ANC goes back to communities and take up their issues, and put pressure on the current government [of the DA-led coalition] based on the issues that our people would have given us.”

Other leaders elected at ANC conference

The ANC’s Joburg regional conference was postponed twice after the death of former regional treasurer and Joburg mayor, Mpho Moerane, who died in a car accident last month.

The conference was also deferred to deal with disputes over branch general meetings.

The other leaders elected to the top five positions of the ANC in Joburg included Sasabona Manganye as secretary, Loyiso Lugayeni-Masuku was re-elected as the deputy secretary and Maxwell Ndezamba was elected treasurer.

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