Johannesburg leadership crisis: Helen Botes appointed acting COO despite legal and ethical concerns

24 Jan 2025

DA in council says the appointment was not ratified and they will take it to the national government.

While mayor Dada Morero could not appoint trouble-prone Johannesburg Property Company CEO Helen Botes as acting city manager, she was this week appointed acting chief operating officer (COO), a powerful role for one of the ANC’s most senior cadres in the city.

Sources have told the Daily Maverick that she had already called in heads of department on Thursday 23 January 2025, laying out an agenda which, they allege, makes it sound as if she is city manager.

‘Not ratified by council’

Morero’s spokesperson Chris Vondo said the council had ratified the appointment, but DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said: “If that is the case, no report has come to council. I’ve checked and no communication was sent out on her appointment.” She said the Municipal Systems Act set out that the COO appointment also had to be ratified by the council.

“It’s unfortunate that the City continues to violate the Municipal Systems Act in regard to the appointment of senior managers,” said Kayser-Echeozonjoku. The act says that a council must appoint an acting manager directly accountable to the municipal manager (in this case Acting City Manager Tshepo Makola).

“The DA will be writing to the executive mayor to get clarity as none of the councillors have been informed of this and council only sits next week. It seems clear the City has not learned anything from the cases it has lost, and is bent on ignoring the rule of law,” she added on 24 January.

Former city manager Floyd Brink had to quit in December 2024 after the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg ratified an earlier judgment that found his appointment illegal. Johannesburg Property Company spokesperson Lucky Sindane confirmed that Botes had moved to the acting COO role this week, and said Musah Makhunga was acting CEO of the R10-billion City property portfolio of 29,001 properties.

Botes, a senior ANC figure in Johannesburg, is like a cat with nine lives. She has survived scandal after scandal, and it is well known that she covets the city manager’s role, which would make her even more powerful as a political entrepreneur and power broker. She is close to Morero who wanted to appoint her last year, but stopped short after she was named in the Usindiso Commission of Inquiry report by Judge Sisi Khampepe as the official responsible for the entity that had let the building reach the state of disrepair that saw it go up in flames in August 2023. The tragic fire claimed 76 lives and left hundreds of people homeless.

The report said: “The Board of Directors of the Johannesburg Property Company must consider taking appropriate action against Ms Botes, the Chief Executive Officer of the Johannesburg Property Company, for the total disregard of managing the Usindiso building despite knowledge of the disastrous state since at least 2019.” It placed responsibility for the fire on the Johannesburg Property Company. “The COJ (City of Johannesburg) and its entities, including Johannesburg Property Company, must bear the responsibility, in part, for what ultimately became the tragedy of the 31 August 2023 fire.”

Packed with ANC cadres

Botes has escaped accountability because the Johannesburg Property Company board is packed with ANC cadres. Its chairperson is also the Johannesburg ANC deputy chairperson, Simon Motha. Botes also escaped censure for her role in a multimillion-rand PPE scandal reported by Mark Heywood. Throughout her tenure, there have been reports of property leasing scandals, the most recent reported here by Daily Maverick.

The mayor’s office had its water and electricity cut after ANC property mogul Lonwabo Sambudla did not pay his utility bill on time (he says the billing was disputed). This is part of a megabillion-rand property deal that has seen Botes empty out the Metro Centre to put staff into leased buildings, often in deals with Sambudla and others. The Metro Centre will be rebuilt at a cost of more than R2-billion over 10 years in a plan criticised by many property developers in Johannesburg as completely over-specced.

In December, Johannesburg’s fleet was grounded for non-payment. The City is in deficit and its operations are debt-financed, but Botes is also pushing hard for what she calls her legacy project. This is the R27-billion Southern Farms development in Devland for which she needs a powerful City job to push through. In this interview with Heidi Giokos on eNCA, Botes said she may consider applying for the role of city manager, and she also said that she considered the development of Southern Farms a success. DM

This is a developing story.

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‘Not ratified by council’

Packed with ANC cadres