ActionSA, the fourth-biggest political party in the Johannesburg metro council, has filed a motion of no confidence in executive mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, saying his leadership of SA’s biggest and richest metro “a charade”.
Calls for Gwamanda to step down have been increasing, with opposition councillors arguing he is not suitably qualified to lead the country’s economic hub, which contributes almost 20% to national GDP and about 40% to Gauteng’s economy.
His election marked the sixth time political power has changed hands in the metro since 2021. The Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane metros are run by coalitions that political pundits say are more about positions than service delivery.
Twelve days into his tenure as mayor in May, labour federation Cosatu called on Gwamanda to step down and be replaced by a “capable mayor” as a matter of urgency with a “collective vision of advancing the city”.
On Wednesday, a day after Gwamanda tabled his state of the city address in the council chambers in Joburg, ActionSA Gauteng caucus leader Funzi Ngobeni said the decision to file a no-confidence vote in the mayor followed “protracted engagements with political parties in Johannesburg”.
“On Monday, ActionSA put out a public call to the mayor that he needs to use his state of the city address to come clean on serious allegations of criminal wrongdoing. It is evident that Gwamanda did not take this demand seriously and this is why ActionSA has filed a motion of no confidence to remove him from office,” Ngobeni said.
Losing mayoral candidate Mpho Phalatse raised the criminal allegations, saying the mayor had enticed people in Soweto to invest in an illegal investment and funeral scheme.
Since the allegations surfaced, Ngobeni said Gwamanda “has not taken the council or the residents of Johannesburg into his confidence to provide any assurance about these serious allegations of wrongdoing”.
“Instead, the matter has been treated as an internal matter and coalition partners have helped shield Gwamanda from unscripted engagements with the media ... ActionSA, along with the IFP, FF+, ACDP and UIM have engaged the DA with the purpose of securing a discussion with the DA in respect of collaborating in this motion of no confidence,” he said.
The motion is due to be heard at a council meeting scheduled for June 20-21. Ngobeni said Johannesburg deserved better and Gwamanda’s stewardship of the city was “nothing more than a charade, while the ANC and EFF implement their real agenda with the benefit of being able to deny that they were in charge”.
A few weeks ago Gwamanda was accused of non-attendance of all 17 integrated development planning (IDP) sessions as approved by council, and non-attendance at 10 of the 17 sessions after being elected as executive mayor. He has since offered a formal apology to the council’s speaker, saying he was unwell.
“I, within the provisions of my powers as the executive mayor in the city of Johannesburg, delegated MMCs to present the IDP at the various sessions. This ensured that my office through the delegated MMCs were always present to present at the IDPs and in the interest of accountability and transparency they were always supported by officials from both my office and the city’s administration.”
Gwamanda was admitted to hospital after falling ill at a council meeting on Wednesday. He became ill during the debate on the state of the city address.
Mlimandlela Ndamase from Gwamanda’s private office said the mayor had been unwell since Tuesday morning, “however given the significance and importance of the day to council and residents of the city, he unfortunately went against medical advice and attended to the state of the city address as delivered”.
“He was seen by his medical team immediately after the address [Tuesday]. Sadly, during today’s [Wednesday’s] debate, his condition deteriorated and the advice of the medical team has been that he be excused immediately and presents himself to a medical facility for urgent treatment and observation.”
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