Frustrated civil society groups call for Gwamanda to be removed as Joburg mayor
Organisations including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) have expressed frustrations over what they describe as an incompetent leadership in the metro.
The Joburg Crisis Alliance held a briefing on 25 July 2024 calling for the removal of Al Jama-Ah's Kabelo Gwamanda's removal from the mayoral office. Picture: Alpha Ramushwana/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - Calls are mounting from various civil society organisations for the removal of Kabelo Gwamanda as Johannesburg mayor.
Organisations including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) have expressed frustrations over what they describe as an incompetent leadership in the metro.
Speaking during a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday, OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said that Gwamanda could longer be allowed to run the city into the ground.
"The management of the city is never going to fix Joburg on their own. They are broke and they are going out for more loans, they’re indenting the city further to the future of our children. So, we have to get out of this collectively and we have to do so with joint cooperative leadership with various communities."
Rivonia Circle's Tessa Dooms said she'd lost faith in the African National Congress (ANC)-led coalition government in the city.
"I think for too long we have waited and hoped that politicians are going to save us, that politicians are going to magically find the right combinations and the right ways and it has gotten to the point where there are coalition governments because we don't trust them."
Tessa Dooms, representing Rivonia Circle, says the municipality should be called to account for leaving communities without electricity and water.
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) July 25, 2024
“We are going to continue to put our foots on their necks until we have leaders who care,” she adds. @Alpha_Mero25 pic.twitter.com/NkWG7guez7