Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. (X)
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has survived yet another motion of no confidence, this time tabled by his own coalition partners.
The motion was brought by former mayor Kabelo Gwamanda of Al Jama-ah, who cited service delivery issues and Morero’s failure to consult coalition partners on decisions. It was seconded by the United Democratic Movement (UDM).
However, during Tuesday’s council sitting, Gwamanda withdrew the motion.
Sources told the Mail & Guardian that during a meeting of the council’s political management committee (PMC) on Monday, there was a resolution for Gwamanda to withdraw the motion against Morero.
The PMC is a structure composed of leaders of the political parties that form part of the city’s ruling coalition, including the ANC, the Economic Freedom Fighters, and the Patriotic Alliance. The committee handles disputes within the coalition.
On Tuesday, Morero told journalists on the sidelines of the council sitting that the motion included issues relating to service delivery, which he believed the local government had begun to address. He said his administration had demonstrated over the last two months that there were “signs of recovery and signs of improvement”.
“Both Al Jama-ah and the UDM indicated that they would be withdrawing the motion. However, there were issues they still wanted to discuss in relation to governance and services to communities,” Morero added.
Gwamanda told journalists that his party had been let down by the leadership of the political management committee, which he said was not leading in a way that allowed political parties to share constructive views on how to take the local government forward.
He accused committee leaders of adopting a “draconian style” of leadership, which did not work for elected officials.
“It was not until we had a follow-up PMC meeting where the mayor was present that he understood the concerns raised by Al Jama-ah through me,” Gwamanda said.
“In that meeting, he was asked to provide possible solutions on how the issues we raised could be addressed and mitigated, not just through dialogue but through proposals that Al Jama-ah and other political parties in the government could consider so that service delivery is carried out in a satisfactory manner across the board.”
He said diverse communities elected councillors, and their job was to ensure services were delivered fairly and without political bias.
Insiders in the political management committee told the M&G that there was a consideration to remove Al Jama-ah from the coalition.
One source accused Gwamanda of being angry because Morero had removed him from the mayoral committee for community development. Morero axed Gwamanda after he was charged with allegedly swindling unsuspecting Soweto residents through his funeral scheme. The National Prosecuting Authority later provisionally withdrew the case.
“Gwamanda wants to come back, but the issue is that if we put him there tomorrow, the case will come back,” the source said. “We are saying you can’t be in the PMC and still bring a motion. So they want [Al Jama-ah] removed.”
Another source in the committee said the motion might be brought back against Morero if he did not act in good faith after Monday’s discussion.