Johannesburg executive mayor Kabelo Gwamanda from the Al Jama-ah Party has finally bowed to civil society and political pressure and tendered his resignation to the Speaker of the council, Margaret Arnolds, on Tuesday morning.
Calls for Gwamanda’s resignation or axing had recently intensified with opposition parties and civil society organisations arguing that his tenure had been marred by unmitigated failure, and that he was simply not qualified to lead the country’s largest metro.
In a brief statement, Gwamanda said the decision to resign was in line with the political engagements that had taken place in recent weeks following significant changes in the country’s political landscape brought by the outcomes of the 29 May elections.
The city, with a population of more than six million people, faces myriad challenges including fiscal pressures, crumbling infrastructure, revenue collection problems as well as service delivery challenges, including the provision of electricity and potable water.
“As the youngest mayor of Johannesburg I am humbled by the opportunity to have led this city and to have stabilised it financially and administratively following the collapse of the multi-party coalition government.
Good governance
“I am pleased that we managed to place good governance on course and that we achieved the best audit outcomes witnessed by the City in years,” Gwamanda said in his resignation letter.
His departure will pave the way for the ANC’s regional chairperson Dada Morero who has long been tipped for the position. Morero had a stint as mayor in 2022 – but occupied the position for just 25 days.
His candidature is expected to be made official by the party’s regional executive committee on Tuesday afternoon. He is set to become the city’s 10th executive mayor since the 2016 local government elections.
The nine mayors since 2016 are: Parks Tau (2016), Herman Mashaba (2016/19), Geoff Makhubu (2020/21), Mpho Moerane (2021), Jolidee Matongo (2021), Mpho Phalatse (2021/22), Dada Morero (2022), Thapelo Amad (2023), Kabelo Gwamanda (2023/24).
Gwamanda ascended to the powerful position in January 2023 as a compromise by the EFF-ANC coalition, which embarked on a mission to take over the province’s metros.
The duo’s relationship, however, later faltered and recently almost brought the city of gold to its knees as the council failed to vote in favour of a R2.5-billion loan from Agence Française de Développement, which was meant for capital projects. The loan was rejected by the council at least three times as the EFF refused to vote with the ANC.
Read more here: Minority government in Gauteng on shaky ground as ANC moves away from EFF
Following these developments, EFF members of the mayoral council in the City of Johannesburg are likely to be booted out when the incoming mayor announces his cabinet.
Last month, ActionSA entered into an agreement with the ANC that would see it use its 44 seats to vote with the ANC on an “issue-by-issue” basis.
The party’s precondition for the agreement was Gwamanda’s removal from the powerful position, as it argued that that his term “has been an unmitigated failure, with the evidence of the downward spiral of Johannesburg evident all around the city”.
Read more here: ActionSA-ANC deal in Joburg for ‘power’ – ‘not just making opposition noise’
Civil society group the Joburg Crisis Alliance has also called for Gwamanda and his members of the mayoral council to be axed from their positions.
“Our call for change in the leadership of the city is not made in favour of any political party. We hold the view that whoever assumes leadership in the city must be held to account, irrespective of which political party they represent,” the Joburg Crisis Alliance has said.
Gwamanda said he would continue to serve the people of Johannesburg as a councillor. However, Daily Maverick understands an agreement was reached with Gwamanda and his party on Monday night that he would resign on condition that he gets a member of the mayoral council post.
This decision, however, has left a bitter taste in the mouth of Gwamanda’s predecessor, Thapelo Amad, who was not afforded the same luxury and is the party’s leader in Gauteng.
The resignation will be effective from a date to be determined by the Speaker.
An ANC insider said Gwamanda was meant to vacate the position as far back as three weeks ago, but his party leader, Ganief Hendricks, was reportedly reluctant for him to let go of the position.
Quizzed about this on Monday, Hendricks said: “Al Jamah-ah is not willing to cooperate in going while this cloud of incompetence hangs over them, the mayor and the party.”
The ANC reportedly threatened a motion of no-confidence against the mayor had he failed to tender his resignation this week.
Hendriks, however, was adamant this would not happen.
“The ANC is not going to dump us and let us down. We have a 15-year relationship as a reliable ally.”
On Tuesday, he could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.
The DA has welcomed Gwamanda’s resignation. The party’s caucus leader, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, said: “During his tenure as mayor, Gwamanda has managed the City of Johannesburg into the ground. The City is on the brink of collapse, and we have a hapless executive to thank for that…”
Of the incoming mayor, she said: “The fact of the matter is that residents of Johannesburg need stability in order to get services, and changing mayors every few months will not provide that stability.”
ActionSA’s caucus leader in the city, Nobuhle Mthembu, said she was pleased that the party’s intervention had occasioned Gwamanda’s resignation, which it pushed for with urgency.
“We could not stand by and allow the City to fall further into disrepair.
Residents of the City of Johannesburg have suffered under a mayor whose ineptitude and habitual blame-shifting, never self-included despite his unambiguous executive responsibility, have led to a disastrous state of service delivery across the City,” Mthembu said.
Build One South Africa’s Ayanda Allie has also welcomed the resignation.
“Elected through an agreement between the ANC and the EFF, Al-Jamah’s Gwamanda was nothing more than a puppet mayor – a useful figurehead in which very little de facto power resided – given his party won just 0.20% of the votes in the most recent local government elections. While politicians benefited, residents suffered.
“Build One South Africa remains cautiously optimistic about the future of the City, and calls on all parties in council to apply their minds diligently and ethically as they elect a new mayor to take over the reins,” said Allie. DM
Daily Maverick
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