ANC ‘lacks numbers’ to choose Joburg mayor

With a motion of no confidence looming against Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, the ANC is not holding its breath that one of its own will be elected to the top job.

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa told an ANC gathering that City of Joburg finance member of the mayoral committee Dada Morero had a good grasp of local government finances and service delivery.

“Before I am accused of campaigning for him, the reason I say so, Dada has a good grasp of what a council needs. Each time I speak to him, I get a sense of somebody who understands how the budget works and service delivery,” he said.

It is also looking increasingly unlikely that Gwamanda will be successfully removed as all coalition partners from the ANC-Economic Freedom Fighters-led coalition will back him.

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ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane said the views of the president were personal and not those of the party. She said Morero had the potential to lead the metro “like all other comrades in Johannesburg, but we do not have the numbers”.

“The ANC cannot have what it wants because it does not have the numbers and that is the reality. The issue of coalitions is that you never get what you want, but what is important is to have coalitions helping us to deliver services to our people,” she said.

“The disadvantage of the politics of coalitions is that the ANC has the biggest numbers so there was an attempt to say, ‘let us regulate [coalitions] so there is also a respect for the numbers that parties receive’.”

She said even if the ANC wanted Morero as mayor, the reality was that it would not prevail.

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