Gauteng’s three metro municipalities finally have political heads for portfolios in their councils after the newly elected DA mayors appointed their long-awaited members of the mayoral committees (MMCs).
On Tuesday, Tshwane mayor Randall Williams unveiled his mayoral committee, which includes the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) with two seats and ActionSA with three seats. Williams said the DA had worked hard over the last few weeks to craft a coalition government that ensures “we put our residents first”.
“The results of the November 2021 elections have placed an important responsibility on elected political party representatives in council to ensure that we work together,” Williams said. “The only way we can succeed is if we put aside our political differences and make the interests of our residents the top priority.”
The crucial metros of capital city Tshwane, manufacturing hub Ekurhuleni and financial capital Johannesburg fell to the DA after the EFF and ActionSA voted with the DA after the November 1 election in which no political party received a clear majority to take over the municipalities.
This placed Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse, Tania Campbell (Ekurhuleni) and Williams in a difficult position as they could not appoint MMCs until a coalition agreement was reached between the DA and smaller political parties.
Campbell was the first to appoint her 10-member mayoral committee on Saturday, after the DA succeeded in putting together a coalition administration. Campbell’s mayoral committee included ActionSA (two seats), the Congress of the People (COPE) and the IFP, both with one seat each.
On Monday, Phalatse followed suit, announcing her mayoral committee which included the IFP, FF+, African Christian Democratic Party (one seat each) and ActionSA with three seats.
The country’s 257 municipalities are at the coalface of service delivery but most are teetering on the brink of collapse as they struggle to deliver on their mandates due to financial challenges spawned by maladministration, looting, corruption and malfeasance.
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana, during his medium-term budget policy statement recently, announced an allocation of more than R450bn from the fiscus over the medium-term expenditure framework to assist struggling municipalities. Godongwana stressed that the government’s immediate task is to build capable local government that delivers services effectively and efficiently.
Williams said his focus would be on core basic service delivery such as improving the city’s response times and ability to manage electricity outages and water leaks, ensuring that potholes are repaired, maintaining open public spaces and repairing sewerage lines.
He said the city would also focus on maintaining and refurbishing critical infrastructure, and stabilising the metro’s finances to protect the institution and ensure its sustainability.
“To achieve these core service deliverables and many others”, the city had created “a robust plan based on 10 key interventions”. These interventions include giving priority to the electrical grid and water infrastructure; providing stringent financial management and oversight; promoting employment and economic growth in the city; and promoting good governance, accountability and transparency.
The Tshwane mayor assured residents of the capital city that he would hold the mayoral committee “to the highest standards, as this administration is truly committed to the principles of clean governance and ensuring quality service delivery”.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga charged the mayoral teams to focus on clean governance and work hard to restore and fast-track service delivery.
ANC Joburg spokesperson Sasabona Manganye said they welcome the appointment of the mayoral committee and hope “ït will assist in accelerated service delivery efforts that we started when we were in government”.
Manganye said the ANC will hold the executive mayor and her mayoral committee accountable and demand “the highest levels of transparency” to make sure services were delivered to residents.
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