Kabelo Gwamanda resigns as City of Joburg mayor
His resignation follows weeks of heightened negotiations led by the ANC, which will pave a way back to the mayoral office for the former liberation movement.
City of Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda. Picture: Supplied
JOHANNESBURG - Kabelo Gwamanda has resigned as mayor of the City of Johannesburg, tendering his resignation to speaker Margaret Arnold on Tuesday.
This follows weeks of heightened negotiations led by the African National Congress (ANC), which will pave a way back to the mayoral office for the former liberation movement.
On Monday, Gwamanda’s office confirmed he would continue to sit on the city’s council, even after his resignation became effective.
"The resignation will be effective from a date to be determined by the Speaker of Council, wherein a new Executive Mayor will be elected by the Council. Mayor Gwamanda will continue to serve as a councillor in the Johannesburg Council, and has expressed his appreciation to the residents of Johannesburg, including the employees of the city, for their support during his time and tenure as the executive mayor of Johannesburg," his spokesperson, Mlimandela Ndamase, said.
CHOPPING AND CHANGING
Gwamanda is one of only two Al Jama-ah councillors in the city, with the other, Thapelo Amad, only lasting three months as Joburg’s number one citizen.
Amad resigned on the eve of a proposed motion of no confidence against him being brought to council.
While the pair represent one of the smallest parties in council, they were able to rise to the highest seat through a deal struck by parties such as the ANC/Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
Despite questions about Gwamanda’s qualifications, he managed to remain in office until now, with the ANC now ready to forge a path that will deliver an ANC mayor.
The minority mayors were seen as a stop-gap measure, while parties campaigned for the 2024 general elections, which delivered a mixed bag of results that saw no party securing a clear majority from the electorate.
Now, with deliberations of power sharing being the order of the day, the metros have become part of the horse-trading between political players.
The ANC first formed its Government of National Unity (GNU), which saw nine parties coming together for the national executive and for positions in the National Assembly. But this failed to find expression in Gauteng, with the party’s leadership in the province failing to reach a working agreement with the Democratic Alliance (DA).
ActionSA, a party led by businessman Herman Mashaba, recently announced that it was in talks with the ANC, having been approached to work together. ActionSA, despite its history of claiming it exists to keep the ANC out of power, insists it cannot serve in the executive alongside it, but would play a role of oversight in the legislature. The party also asked for the position of Speaker.
However, the ANC has dismissed this for now, claiming the only priority at the moment is resolving the issue of a mayor.
WHO'S NEXT?
The ANC is likely to back the current finance MMC Dada Morero to replace Gwamanda.
Morero already had a taste of the mayoral office, having been elected to the position in October 2022. However, this only lasted a month, due to a high court ruling that found the sitting which elected Morero was invalid and unconstitutional.
Morero is also the ANC chairperson in the region, and while there have been murmurs that he might face a challenge from Loyiso Masuku, the corporate and shared services MMC, this has largely been dismissed.
Morero was one of two candidates ANC officials had shortlisted as mayoral candidates when they conducted interviews of potential mayors in 2021.
Reports that he also poses a threat to the ANC’s provincial secretary TK Nciza, ahead of elective conferences within the organisation, have also been dismissed, with the ANC putting a moratorium on preparations for conferences in order to conduct a full assessment of how it managed to lose its majority in the general elections after 30 years of power.
There is hope from some in the ANC that if the deliberations in Johannesburg successfully deliver a reconfigured government, it would be spread to other cities in Gauteng.
This could potentially pose a threat to a DA-led coalition in Tshwane, which ActionSA is part of. However sources inside the outfit headed by Herman Mashaba say it's too soon to say what will happen in Tshwane, as it awaits the ANC’s handling of the Joburg metro.