SA’s economic hub of Johannesburg has a new executive mayor after ANC councillor Mpho Moerane was elected unopposed into the hot seat on Friday.
ANC councillor Mmatlou Mulaudzi nominated Moerane and was seconded by her colleague Solomon Mogase, and Moerane accepted.
“This is very emotional for me,” said Moerane, taking to the podium for his election speech, “because a few weeks ago my friend [Jolidee Matongo] was standing here”.
Moerane’s election means he will be in charge of the country’s richest metro, which has a budget of R73.3bn for 2021/2022, until the much-awaited local government elections on November 1.
Johannesburg was left without a mayor following the death of Matongo, who died in a car accident on September 18, having been the metro’s first citizen for just more than two months. He had replaced Geoff Makhubo, who died from Covid-19 complications on July 9.
A stable political leadership is crucial for the city and the economy as the municipality contributes nearly 20% to GDP and about 40% to the economy of Gauteng.
Moerane’s election on Friday was largely due to support from the ANC’s coalition partners in council, dubbed the government of local unity [GLU], which include the African Independent Congress (AIC), Al Jama-ah, COPE, the IFP, the Patriotic Alliance and the UDM.
In his acceptance speech, the newly elected mayor said it was with “great humility” that he was accepting the executive mayor position.
“We are left with only 30 days before end of term of office. As we continue to mourn Matongo’s passing, we must pick up his spear and wage war to accelerate service delivery to all residents of our city,” said Moerane.
Moerane then announced his 10-member mayoral committee, which was largely unchanged, with almost all those who served under Matongo retaining their portfolios.
Moerane, who had served as environment and infrastructure services MMC under Matongo, was replaced by ANC councillor Tania Oldjohn. COPE councillor Thomas Mofokeng remains head of the economic development portfolio, IFP's Mlungisi Mabaso (housing), (IFP) Helen Makhuba (transport), (ANC) Eunice Mgcina (health and social development), (African Independent Congress) Margaret Arnolds (community development), (Al Jama-ah) Thapelo Amad (development planning), (ANC) Mally Mokoena (public safety), and (ANC) Loyiso Masuku (group corporate shared services).
Moerane said the mayoral committee was retained in line with the principle of continuity. The GLU councillors pledged their support for Moerana.
EFF caucus leader Musa Novela called on Moerane to use the 30-day period to serve the people of Joburg and not use his position to campaign for the ANC ahead of the municipal elections next month.
The city was among ANC-run metros, including capital city Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, that fell into the hands of DA-led coalitions during the watershed municipal elections in 2016.
A recent survey by the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO), a research project between the Gauteng provincial government, the Wits and Johannesburg universities and the SA Local Government Association (Salga), indicates that the ANC will face its toughest local elections yet in Gauteng on November 1 as satisfaction with provincial and local government has plummeted.
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