The DA, the second-largest political party in the 270-seat Johannesburg council, is the latest organisation to throw its weight behind calls for the removal of executive mayor Thapelo Amad.
Amad is a councillor of the Al Jama-ah party with three seats in council. He replaced DA councillor Mpho Phalatse as executive mayor in January after her ousting through a vote of no confidence. At 71, the DA has the second-biggest allocation of seats after the ANC, which was 91.
Amad, who opposition parties have dubbed the “mayor of the puppet-led administration” in Johannesburg, , caused controversy when he said one of his key priorities as mayor of Joburg — which is battling a cash-flow crisis, deteriorating infrastructure, rampant crime, unemployment, load-shedding, and hijacked buildings — would be fixing potholes.
About two weeks ago, the executive mayor found himself in hot water yet again after his remarks that he had secured the prospect of a R9.5bn loan facility to fund service delivery in SA’s biggest metro, which has a budget of R77.3bn for the 2022/23 financial year to deliver services to its 6-million residents.
Opposition parties including the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and ActionSA called for the mayor to resign over the remarks, saying he had no business getting involved in administrative processes.
The city, however, defended him, saying his comments were made in reference to various discussions under way, and the “numerous unsolicited proposals that have been directed to the city from a variety of stakeholders”. It said the R9.5bn loan was made as an example of the proposal received and not stated as a final and concluded deal of the metro.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga on Monday said his party would do everything necessary to ensure Johannesburg residents have a competent government and a feasible plan to put the municipality on track for recovery.
“Johannesburg’s incumbent ANC-EFF puppet mayor must be removed from office. The comprehensive display of incompetence by Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad as a blundering pseudo-executive has vindicated the DA’s warnings of the dire consequences of the coalition of corruption putting residents’ money where the ANC-EFF’s mouthpieces are,” Msimanga said.
ActionSA Gauteng leader and councillor in the metro, Funzi Ngobeni, lodged a motion of no confidence against Amad which is set to be discussed during the next council meeting on April 25.
“The DA will therefore support Amad’s removal from the mayoralty,” said Msimanga.
“Jockeying for positions, undermining of government initiatives, sabotaging of democratic processes — these things have become the modus operandi for opportunists in the ANC-EFF, their puppet parties, and even, in extreme instances, representatives involved in multiparty efforts through back room deals and secret votes that undermine the will of political leaders to work together.”
Amad did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
PA leader Gayton McKenzie told SABC’s Sakina Kamwendo on Monday he initially backed Amad for the mayoral position because he came across as a “great person [who is] well-mannered”.
“He was a horse that I bet [but] he went in there and the first interview he did he spoke his own nonsense. I defended it. The second interview he did, he spoke about potholes, I don’t know what potholes. I defended him once again. I can’t defend him any more,” McKenzie said.
“We have seen he’s totally out of his depth. Being a good person doesn’t really make you a good mayor,” McKenzie said. “He is a total disappoint. I played a role in his appointment. I want to apologise to the residents of Johannesburg.”
McKenzie said Amad needed to go before he causes “further damage”.
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