ANC councillor Jolidee Matongo could be elected Johannesburg’s new executive mayor as early as Tuesday, after getting an endorsement from the party’s top six officials and assurances from smaller parties in the council that they will support his election.
SA’s richest municipality was left without a mayor when Geoff Makhubo succumbed to Covid-19 in July.
In a letter to ANC Gauteng provincial secretary Jacob Khawe on Thursday, which Business Day has seen, ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte wrote that three cadres — Matongo, Mmatlou Mulaudzi and Mpho Moerane — were interviewed by national officials on Wednesday.
Though the three were “excellent candidates”, Matongo was the “preferred candidate” to don the mayoral chain, she said.
Of the top six officials who interviewed the recommended candidates, Business Day understands that only ANC deputy president David Mabuza and suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule were absent.
Matongo, who unveiled the metro’s R73.3bn budget for 2021/2022, which was mostly aimed at accelerating service delivery, said it was quite daunting appearing before the national officials.
“It’s not the backing of national officials, it’s them following a new ANC process that says recommended cadres must be subjected to an interview process so that national officials satisfy themselves that they are equal to the task.
“It was quite a tough one because it’s the first time candidates were subjected to an interview process by national officials,” he said.
ANC council speaker Nonceba Molwele will call a council meeting on Tuesday next week to elect the metro’s first citizen, Matongo said.
The coalition — called the government of local unity (GLU) — that helped Makhubo to lead the metro, including the African Independent Congress (AIC), Al Jama-ah, COPE, the IFP, the Patriotic Alliance and the UDM, has assured the ANC that they will support the governing party’s preferred candidate for the job, he said.
“We actually had a meeting with all the partners this afternoon [Thursday] and they have assured us of their support.”
AIC caucus leader Margaret Arnolds, who served as community development MMC under Makhubo, told Business Day that the GLU met on Thursday afternoon. “We are very happy as the GLU because we know Jolidee [Matongo] will do a sterling job. We won’t compare him to Geoff [Makhubo] because he is his own person,” Arnolds said.
Matongo will need 136 votes to be elected mayor, and “as the GLU councillors we have a combined 137 votes so his election is a foregone conclusion”.
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