EDITORIAL: SA in need of talented leaders instead of power broker mayors

Helen Zille as the DA’s mayoral candidate ups the ante in the battle for the soul of the City of Johannesburg. 

Theoretically, it should force the party’s main opponent in Gauteng, the ANC, to put up a candidate of similar stature or risk entering the campaign on a weak footing. Heavyweight mayoral candidates will be crucial for the ANC to ward off a potential bloody nose in the upcoming local government election.

It has relied on regional leaders mostly since 2011 and its support has been declining since. There was a slight nudge during president Jacob Zuma’s tenure to appoint national leaders as mayoral candidates due to their experience and skill outside the local sphere of government, but it fell flat due to pushback from ANC regional power blocs flexing their muscles.

The ANC in Gauteng has stressed that the city does not need a “messiah” to fix its intractable problems. In a radio interview last month, top power broker in the ANC’s provincial leadership Lebogang Maile said Johannesburg does not need a “messiah”, responding to Zille’s potential candidature. He told Eyewitness News that there was “nothing special” Zille would do and pointed to the coalition set-up as a setback for any potential candidate. 

Maile’s comments are largely reflective of the ANC view in the province and nationally, which again would not want to upset the regional applecart by parachuting in candidates.

What Maile misses, however, is that Zille cut her political teeth managing chaotic coalitions of up to 16 parties during her tenure as Cape Town mayor. This characteristic alone sets her apart from any regional candidate the ANC could put forward. 

Also, the ANC’s regional leadership — from which it will select a mayor — is deeply divided and in disarray, hardly cohesive enough to deal successfully with opposition coalition partners. 

The regional leadership, led by mayor Dada Morero, was disbanded in June and replaced with a task team by the provincial leadership. The region will head to an elective conference by the end of September, but the process has been plagued by setbacks, including delays in electing branch leadership. 

The race for the regional leadership is between Morero and finance MMC Loyiso Masuku. and whoever emerges as chair is likely to be the ANC’s mayoral candidate in the 2026 election. 

Shortly after the formation of local government, the ANC’s mayoral picks for the large cities were mostly heavyweight, experienced leaders. When Amos Masondo was selected to head up Johannesburg, he was a member of the Gauteng legislature with a well-established national profile. 

A former Ekurhuleni mayor, the late Duma Nkosi, was an MP in a senior role within the ANC caucus. He chaired the portfolio committee on minerals & energy before moving to the city as mayor in 2001. 

Masondo and Nkosi were among the first crop of ANC mayors in the large cities with the difficult task of merging a number of towns into single, cohesive metros. It was during their tenures that the ANC’s electoral support increased for the first and only time in the two metros.

The first mayor of Tshwane, Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, was the deputy minister of education in the national cabinet before he stood for the post of mayor in 2000. 

Zille herself brought her experience from the National Assembly and as MEC for health in the Western Cape to the table when she was elected mayor of Cape Town in 2006. 

The ANC relying on regional leaders with little to no experience outside the city, which now faces intractable challenges, would be short-sighted. 

Johannesburg does not need a messiah, but it does need grit, skilled leadership and experience, which lifelong councillors rarely bring to the table.