ANC proposes new law that will stop merry go round of mayors in metros

The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member Dickson Masemola says the party will propose a new bill in parliament that will ensure municipalities avoid numerous motions of confidence against mayors.

Masemola said this in a media briefing in Boksburg on Saturday while talking about the work the party has done to ensure the functionality of municipalities.

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“We have taken through the parliamentary processes as well as executive processes what we call the municipal structure amendment bill.

That piece of law is aimed at stabilizing relations among political parties.”

Masemola said the proposed law will ensure that coalition agreements are not just a “gentleman’s’ agreement.

“That law proposes that once the parties have gone into a coalition, they must have a window of at least two years to can think of changing mayors and speakers.”

Municipal administrators

However, Masemola said it is important for the administrative arm of municipalities to also play its role in ensuring effective service delivery.

“We have put in place regulations and a framework that says we are basing our appointments going into the future qualifications, experience. Skills therefore meritocracy becomes the baseline on how we move forward.”

Masemola said this new framework will ensure that the mayor in a municipality cannot appoint a senior official without concurrence from the province and national government.

Poor performance in municipal electiions

On the other hand, Masemola said the ANC takes full responsibility for the problems in municipalities.

“We take full responsibility for what has happened in the municipalities because the people know that the ANC is their organisation.”

Since 2016 the ANC has been gradually losing municipalities to coalition formations.

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But Masemola says the party had made in roads in reclaiming some of these municipalities in Gauteng.

These include Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Johannesburg.

He said the party was now going back to the ground to ensure an out right victory in the next local government elections.

“In 2026 we want to reclaim all the metros and municipalities.”