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Second time lucky as ANC’s Dada Morero elected as new Joburg mayor

Second time lucky as ANC’s Dada Morero elected as new Joburg mayor
Dada Morero announced members of his mayoral committee. (Photo: Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle)
Nonkululeko Njilo
By Nonkululeko Njilo
16 Aug 2024
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Moments after getting elected executive mayor of the country’s largest metropolitan, Dada Morero announced members of his mayoral committee. It includes Margaret Arnolds from the African People’s Convention, now MMC for Finance, and Kabelo Gwamanda from Al Jamah-ah, who takes up the position of Community Development MMC.

ANC regional chairperson and former finance MMC in Johannesburg Dada Morero has officially been elected the city of gold’s executive mayor. He was elected on Friday, 16 August 2024, during an extraordinary council meeting, following Al Jamah-ah Kabelo Gwamanda’s resignation this week.   

Morero’s candidacy was endorsed by political parties including ActionSA, PA, EFF and ATM. He emerged victorious after getting 189 of 249 valid votes cast against the DA’s caucus leader, Belinda Kayser Echeozonjoku, who received just 60 votes. 

Morero had long been touted for the position, but was stifled by the ANC-EFF coalition at that time in the city, which settled for mayors and speakers from the minority parties as a compromise, as they  both wanted their own candidates to occupy these positions. 

Read more here: Dada Morero tipped to be new Joburg mayor as Kabelo Gwamanda resigns 

Morero is not entirely new to this position. In 2022, he had a stint as mayor — but occupied the position for just 25 days. Now he is the 11th mayor since 2016.  

Nonku-Joburg

On Friday night, Morero opened his acceptance speech in song. He thanked Kayser Echeozonjoku for a “beautiful contest”, and said he was confident that his tenure would run until 2026, having previously had a 25-day stint.   

Committee changes


In a rather surprising move, Morero announced slight changes to the existing mayoral committee. This, as he revealed that speaker of council Margaret Arnolds, who presided over his election as mayor just minutes before — would now be re-deployed and take over as finance MMC.   

He also announced that his predecessor, Gwamanda, would be the MMC for community development.  

The City, with a population of more than six million people, faces myriad challenges including fiscal pressures, crumbling infrastructure, revenue collection problems and service delivery challenges, including the provision of electricity and potable water. 

Read more: New mayor – The ANC is cooking its goose for Joburg in 2026 

Morero said: “The 2024 moment requires us to listen, we must plan with the community. And this requires all of us to work together. Since 2016, our leadership has been destructive. We need to reimagine Johannesburg to be big, colourful, and full of love...”  

For the most part, Morero’s election was made possible by ActionSA, who in July entered into an agreement with the ANC — an agreement that would see it use its 44 seats to vote with the ANC on an “issue-by-issue” basis.     

Read more: ActionSA-ANC deal in Joburg for ‘power’ – ‘not just making opposition noise’ 

The party’s precondition for the agreement was Gwamanda’s removal from the powerful position, as it argued that that his term had been an unmitigated failure. It was a demand that the ANC conceded, as it forced him to resign from the position or face a motion of no confidence.   

Dada Morero also announced members of his mayoral committee. (Photo: Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle)


Demands in exchange for 'support'


Another demand made by ActionSA in exchange for its conditional support was to get the speaker of council position, which was occupied by Arnolds until today.

Earlier, Kayser Echeozonjoku reiterated calls for dissolution of council, and fresh elections to stop the City’s further unravelling. In August 2023, the party attempted to table a motion to dissolve the council, which was barely heard. 

“Given the merry-go-round of mayors, who have tried and failed to hold together Johannesburg’s unwieldy and ungovernable coalitions, it is time to recognise that the 2021 local election delivered such a fragmented result, that it has proved almost impossible to put together a workable government.

“When this kind of impasse arises in other democracies, a solution is often found in giving voters the chance to rectify the situation in a new election,” she said.   

The DA has as much chance as a snowball in hellfire of succeeding in its motion because the council can only be dissolved with a two-thirds majority vote. The ANC holds the highest number of seats and has the support of ActionSA and EFF, so the DA won’t come close to the votes it needs. 

Read more: Joburg Council Chaos Explainer: Mpho Phalatse walks, Champagne corks pop and the SA Multi-Party Charter teeters 

In April, the DA attempted to apply the same strategy in Ekurhuleni and failed.  

ActionSA’s caucus leader, Nobuhle Mthembu, welcomed Morero’s election.  

“While the election of a new mayor is only the first step, rebuilding Johannesburg will require the execution of a sustained program of action, informed by a clear plan, political will, the abandonment of patronage and profligacy, and most importantly, the best interests of residents. 

“ActionSA is committed to supporting every effort in this regard and will continue to work tirelessly to demonstrate to the 6 million residents of our great city that there is a party dedicated to fighting for them at every turn to ensure they live in a city that delivers for them,” Mthembu said. DM

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