News that Joburg executive mayor Dada Morero may be recalled is the latest reminder of the destructive politics of factionalism inside the city’s leading party.
Leaks following a special regional executive committee meeting suggested a decision had been taken to recall Morero.
This was apparently sparked by a court action challenging the outcome of the party’s regional elective conference that saw him losing a leadership contest to Loyiso Masuku.
Soon after the conference, moves began to elevate Masuku to deputy mayor.
Stanley Itshegetseng, Morero’s special adviser in the council, is challenging the outcome of the December conference of the ANC. He did so after his grievance wasn’t entertained within the party’s structures.
In the ANC’s regional political calculus, Itshegetseng is seen as Morero’s proxy — hence the move against his boss.
In terms of ANC policy, only the party’s national officials — or the so-called top seven — can recall a mayor. They have yet to pronounce themselves on the matter.
In their wisdom, the national officials disbanded the provincial executive committee, supposedly because of poor performance in the 2024 general elections.
If Morero is indeed recalled, his successor would be the 11th mayor of South Africa’s key city in a decade.
His recall is not unprecedented. Two of South Africa’s post-apartheid presidents — Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma — were recalled before finishing their state term of office after losing party contests.
But replacing him with Masuku will fuel speculation that this is a factional battle for access to state resources ahead of the local government election.
There are many legitimate reasons why Morero would be a candidate for sacking. His term of office as the city’s first citizen has hardly been inspiring. He is presiding over a city battling the deterioration of service delivery and a crippling water crisis.
A compelling case hasn’t been made for why Masuku would be any better than Morero, especially at this critical moment in the city’s life.
It is concerning that of the many reasons the party chooses factionalism as the reason to recall him. The interests of the city’s long-suffering ratepayers don’t feature anywhere in the party’s considerations of its deployees.
Leadership reshuffles cause instability, anxiety and uncertainty among the administrative staff in the council and its entities. This affects service delivery.
What Joburg needs right now is leadership stability that focuses on fixing the water crisis, sorting out its finances and improving service delivery for residents.
This publication holds no brief for any of the parties that have run Joburg or any of the ANC factions vying for power. However, like the ratepayers of the city, we have a keen interest in how the city is governed.
Under the ANC’s leadership, which has run the city for much of the last three decades, the city has not always been blessed with good leadership that prioritises the interests of residents.
Even when the ANC sponsored minority parties’ candidates to lead the city, residents’ interests were secondary to the ANC clinging to power.
The mooted recall of Morero is driven by a party at war with itself; a party that has lost touch with ordinary South Africans’ daily struggles.
While we cannot dictate to the ANC who it should deploy to lead Joburg, we urge its national officials to put the interests of the city’s ratepayers at the centre of their decision.
Joburg deserves better.
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