Joburg’s new ‘caretaker’ mayor will last if he doesn’t threaten ANC-EFF’s interests

Kabelo Gwamanda of Al Jama-ah has become the second person from the party to be elected and is the second new mayor of Johannesburg this year.

He becomes the ninth executive mayor of the City of Joburg since 2016.

‘Temporary arrangement’

Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said Gwamanda would be a caretaker mayor for the interests of parties like the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

“The new mayor has little power and that is something we must accept. For you to have power, you must have a strong backing of your own organisation.

“Here, you have a party that does not have political authority in terms of commanding the numbers within council,” Seepe said.

“He can be considered as a person who is a caretaker of other interests he has no control over.

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“The issue of him lasting is dependent on him satisfying those interests. As soon as he threatens the interests of the ANC, EFF or other supporting organisations, it will not take much before he can be removed. This is just a temporary arrangement.”

He said the most important MMC positions had gone to the ANC and EFF.

“The most important position is that of finance because with finance you can direct the budget and you can direct the resources,” he said.

“The ANC and EFF, even in the past, were always interested in those spaces [of] influence. In terms of service delivery, the resources become keen.

“Even in our country, you find that the minister of finance has to carry far greater weight than the other ministers when, in fact, they are supposed to be equal.”

Constructive opposition

Gwamanda beat ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni and the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Joburg leader Mpho Phalatse by 139 to 59 and 68 votes respectively.

In move that was no surprise, Gwamanda kept the same mayoral committee as his predecessor, Thapelo Amad.

Shortly after being sworn in, he said: “Our interest is for the city to succeed and we are prepared to work with all political parties.”

Gwamanda, who hails from Soweto, delivered his maiden speech after being sworn in, saying that his mayorship was bound by a sense of duty.

“It is not a mere title of glamour, prestige or celebrity status like most of us would like to believe.

“As such, the outcome of this democratic process should not be misconstrued with narratives that seek to cast aspersions and suggest that we as the people are incapable of self-determination and further insinuate from a position of ignorance that this is a doomsday coalition, simply because the events that are unfolding seem unfortunately beyond their rationale,” he said.

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While Ngobeni lost his bid to become mayor, he said it was surprising one of the DA councillors had voted for him instead of their candidate.

“If you count the numbers, the DA had 71 councillors, they only got 68 votes… we managed to get 59 votes. In our count, we think one councillor from the DA voted for us,” he said.

He said following his defeat and that of Phalatse, their coalition would continue to be constructive opposition, holding the executive accountable.

Ngobeni also wished Gwamanda well, adding: “We need to see some stability, even if the stability comes from the government of local unity [an ANC-EFF-led coalition], that’s fine. If they fail to do so, we will be here to hold them accountable.”

Area of focus

Gauteng ANC provincial secretary TK Nciza said it would disingenuous to say the ruling party did not want its Joburg chair Dada Morero to succeed Amad as mayor.

“The ANC is not preoccupied with itself leading as a mayor, it’s preoccupied with service delivery for our people and that is our area of focus. The decision came with the regional executive committee to give us a council of Al Jama-ah,” he said.

“Not all councillors can stand for mayor, at least 120-something councillors cannot stand for mayor which is the EFF and ANC.”

Following backlash by the public and other political parties on the election of Amad as mayor, Nciza said it could not be that when there was an issue with the mayor, it was an ANC issue.

“The ANC works with all these parties, Al Jama-ah is an independent political party which plays a part in making sure we win in council.”

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