Opposition parties and civil society organisations have welcomed Kabelo Gwamanda’s “long overdue” resignation as Johannesburg mayor, saying his exit effectively brings an end to months of instability, poor service delivery and general malaise in SA’s largest and biggest-budget municipality.
Calls for him to go had been intensifying over the past few weeks, with opposition parties and civil society organisations saying he was not suitably qualified to lead the country’s economic and financial hub, which contributes almost 20% to national GDP.
The municipality said Gwamanda submitted his resignation to council speaker Margaret Arnolds on Tuesday. The metro said Gwamanda’s resignation would be effective from a date to be determined by the speaker, “wherein a new executive mayor will be elected by the council”.
When contacted for comment, Arnolds said council would elect a new mayor on Friday.
ANC Gauteng secretary Thembinkosi “TK” Nciza welcomed the resignation.
“Now our focus is making sure we put in a new mayor. Our candidate is Dada Morero.”
Nciza said Morero, the finance MMC, was experienced and appreciates the pressing challenges the metro is grappling with. The new mayor would need to prioritise Joburg inner city rejuvenation and township development to address unemployment, said Nciza.
Build One SA (Bosa) Gauteng MPL Ayanda Allie said the party welcomed Gwamanda’s long overdue resignation. “This brings to an end a calamitous 466-day period of instability, poor service delivery and general malaise in the country’s economic heartland,” Allie said.
Puppet mayor
Gwamanda was nothing more than a “puppet mayor … given his party won just 0.2% of the votes in the most recent local government elections. While politicians benefited, residents suffered.”
She added: “The first items on the new mayor’s to-do list is to scrap the unjust R200 monthly electricity surcharge and to update the indigent registry to ensure every vulnerable citizen in the city is rightfully receiving free basic services including water and electricity.”
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage also welcomed the resignation. “We have been calling for his exit for quite some time. Our concern turns to his replacement.”
Morero was part of the mayoral committee when the rot set in, Duvenage said. “We are looking for a strong, courageous leadership. We have not seen that in Morero.”
In February, the Treasury threatened to withhold R1.2bn in grants to the Joburg metro due to underperformance and noncompliance with the Division of Revenue Act.
Political analyst Tessa Dooms, a director at the Rivonia Circle, said Gwamanda’s resignation was “good, in a sense” as it related to political accountability. “The state of the city calls for those in charge to take stock and say, ‘this is the plan, going forward’. The council needs to give us confidence why the next leader is the best to lead,” Dooms said.
DA Joburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku could not immediately be reached for comment.
ActionSA Joburg caucus leader Nobule Mthembu said Gwamanda’s tenure was characterised by “failure and catastrophic incompetence, with the evidence of the city’s downward spiral evident across Johannesburg”.
“ActionSA is pleased that our intervention has occasioned Gwamanda’s resignation, which we pushed for with urgency, as we could not stand by and allow the city to fall further into disrepair,” she said.
In a statement, the metro said Gwamanda’s resignation was in line with the political engagements that had taken place over the past few weeks and “which have been largely informed by the new political architecture of governance in the country after the May 29 national and provincial elections”.
Gwamanda said: “As the youngest mayor of Johannesburg, I am humbled by the opportunity to have led this city and to have stabilised it financially and administratively after the collapse of the multiparty coalition government. I am pleased that we managed to place good governance on course and that we achieved the best audit outcomes witnessed by the city in years.”
Gwamanda, whose party holds just three seats in the 270-seat council, was the ninth mayor of Johannesburg since the 2016 local government elections.
Update: August 13, 2024 — This article has been updated with new information.
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