Gauteng co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Jacob Mamabolo has seconded Kiba Kenana as acting city manager of Johannesburg, effective June 30.
According to his profile on the Gauteng provincial government website, Kekana is listed as the chief director for intergovernmental relations and traditional institutional management
His appointment comes after the Johannesburg council took a resolution on June 18 requesting Mamabolo to second a person to act in the vacant position of city manager until a suitable person was appointed.
In December 2024, the high court in Johannesburg directed Floyd Brink to “relinquish” his permanent appointment as city manager within 10 days or as soon as an acting city manager is appointed. It declared a resolution appointing him by the city council in November 2023 “unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid”, and set it aside.
The move marked yet another blow to the ANC-led coalition in the city, which had fought a lengthy and expensive legal battle to ensure Brink remained in his post.
The decision handed down by judge James Wilson followed a judgment in the same court in November 2023 by acting judge Steven Budlender, which set aside Brink’s appointment by the council, declaring it unconstitutional and invalid. The court at that time ordered Brink to vacate his post and for the process to appoint a city manager to be started afresh.
However, instead of adhering to that judgment, the city reconvened a council meeting the very next day in which it purported to correct the procedural flaws in Brink’s original appointment and once again selected him for the post.
Acting executive mayor of Johannesburg Kenny Kunene welcomed Kekana’s appointment, saying his secondment would play a “crucial role in the stability of the City of Johannesburg as we manage the transition of the political and administrative leadership”.
Johannesburg, which has a budget of R89.4bn for 2025/26, is dogged by poor service delivery, hijacked buildings, water and electricity challenges, crumbling buildings, corruption, uncontrolled illegal immigration and vandalism of traffic lights, dysfunctional streetlights and rapidly deteriorating roads and bridges.
SA’s biggest metro, which is set to host the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November, is the subject of a presidential intervention aimed at addressing service delivery challenges in a metro that is responsible for 16% of SA’s GDP and employs 12% of the national workforce.
With Natasha Marrian
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