ANALYSIS
New mayor loading for Joburg as coalitions shift ahead of 2024 elections
The powerhouse city of Johannesburg would be a good testing ground for coalition parties to prove their mettle.
The formation of a national multiparty pact could see yet another shift in the mayoral position in Johannesburg.
After the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa was formed in Kempton Park last week, the parties agreed to bring the Patriotic Alliance (PA) into the fold. (See Queenin Masuabi’s report here.)
PA leader Gayton McKenzie told the Sunday Times that his party would break away from coalitions with the ANC if his party became part of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa. The coalition is made up of seven parties, four of which won 31.97% of the vote in the most recent local government elections. The four are the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and ActionSA. The remaining three parties are new on the scene.
If the PA throws in its lot with the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, it can lift the new coalition to within shouting distance of a majority. (Bearing in mind, of course, that local and national government elections are different.)
The PA will meet the DA, ActionSA and FF+ in Johannesburg this week to discuss a shift in support. The Multi-Party Charter for South Africa needs a demonstration hub to showcase what the government it leads will look like.
With 6 million people and an R81-billion budget, Johannesburg is a suitable Petri dish as the country’s biggest metro. It is also in dire straits financially, and the beleaguered city and its people need all the help they can get.
If the talks succeed, ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni could be the mayoral candidate – if the DA agrees. If not, then DA caucus leader Belinda Echeozonjoku could be the candidate.
At the other end of the city’s political spectrum, President Cyril Ramaphosa told a Gauteng ANC gathering on 19 August that its caucus leader, Dada Morero, would be a good mayor.
On numerous occasions, the ANC national headquarters has said that as the biggest party in the 270-seat council, it should hold the mayoralty.
But Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, the party’s Gauteng leader, has ignored Luthuli House, which has also set out the principle in its coalition guidelines. Lesufi is in an informal alliance with the EFF and is eyeing a post-2024 landscape in which the ANC in Gauteng is in serious trouble.
Now there is pressure to make a change in Johannesburg, a crucial voting pool for the ANC in Gauteng and one that it stands to lose if delivery in the city is not improved. This means Kabelo Gwamanda, the placeholder mayor from the three-seat Al Jama-ah, could be on his way out.
Gwamanda is facing a motion of no confidence and is under investigation by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority for a failed financial scheme he ran as a younger man.
Whichever way the coalition politics play out, what is clear is that Johannesburg is likely to get its fourth mayor in a year in 2023. DM
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And once again the cANCer throws the citizens under the bus in the power struggle… no matter. Interesting to see Rise Mzansi not part of the coalition but making inroads slowly. The one to watch in my opinion.
In my view, it is the rainbow coalition creating the instability in JHB.
After Dr Mpho was ousted by the ANC coalition, and succeeded by the Al Jama-ah major, Action SA placed a motion of no confidence without having a succession plan in place. Even though the Action SAs motion succeeded, the opposition coalition failed to organise themselves, and that is when the second Al Jama-ah mayor got voted in.
As a resident of Joburg, I do not feel like this politicking is serving any of the residents, and another change in administration is going to put the city back even further.
This politicking is contributing to this semigration other provinces are unprepared for and which the City can ill afford…then again, who cares about the residents, right?
Joburg desperately needs new leadership! As a JHB resident, I sincerely hope the PA is genuine in its desires to join the right side of the field and start improving matters with a view to making a clean sweep in 2024. The problem is… will there be strings attached? That is the $64,000 question!
Local coalitions should not be dependent on agreements between national party leadership structures. Until South African politicians learn this, municipal services will remain horrible.
But if the PA isn’t rewarded after a successful election for its few percent, it will move again to the highest bidder.
It is not unreasonable to suspect that a large portion of the ANC has little concept of the consequences of their choices and decisions. It is enough that “It is our turn to eat” holds sway. Understandable but sad, and of huge damage to the country – something that appears to be irrelevant.
This analysis presumes that a corrupt ANC and alliance partner EFF could not ‘find’ another totally corrupt ‘nonentity’ (but dangerous) like the Al Jama-ah to ‘place hold’ it … for another bloodless coup ! That is what politics is about in today’s environment – corruption !