ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula. (@MbalulaFikile/X)
The ANC will not abandon its coalition with smaller parties in the City of Johannesburg despite them bringing a motion of no confidence against its mayor Dada Morero, secretary general Fikile Mbalula said this week.
Mbalula also ruled out working with ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the metro despite ActionSA saying it would abstain from the vote and speculation that the DA would do the same. Mbalula said it was too late to change coalition partners less than a year before local government elections.
“We can’t work with the DA now, ten months before the elections because we are on the verge of getting to the people and testing their will,” Mbalula told the Mail & Guardian on the sidelines of a media briefing.
“We are partners at GNU (government of national unity), we are doing well at the GNU but we are on the verge of election campaigns, and literally, we are one foot in, in terms of testing the will of the people.”
He spoke as Morero faced a motion brought by ANC coalition partner Al Jama-ah, which says the mayor has failed to address chronic service delivery problems in Johannesburg — including water, electricity outages, infrastructure decline and weak administrative performance — and does not consult other parties before making decisions.
At the time of going to print on Thursday, it was not clear whether the motion would go ahead or succeed, if it did. But sources said the minority parties had indicated a willingness to withdraw it if the ANC in Johannesburg wrote a letter to the party’s national leaders requesting Morero’s recall.
One ANC insider told the M&G that the minority partners backing the motion did not have a problem with the party itself but rather with Morero.
“The problem is Dada, we actually wanted to keep him as a mayor but the minorities are having a problem with him. We will have to write to the national office bearers about the issues raised by the minority parties,” the source said.
Another insider told the M&G that another proposal on the table was for Morero to resign from his position.
“We don’t want him to be the first mayor to be removed by his own people,” they said.
But Mbalula said it would destabilise the metro to remove Morero some 10 months before the elections.
“We presume that the elections will be in November or December, that’s 10 months. All political parties are now focusing on their tasks, gearing themselves for local government elections and we are busy here destabilising the government,” he said, accusing the minority parties of being disingenuous.
“They want to bring a new mayor; what is that mayor going to do?”
Last year the Economic Freedom Fighters threatened to pull out of the coalition in the city if Morero did not give them the portfolio of members of the mayoral committee for transport.
This was after Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kenny Kunene had resigned in council after he was found at alleged criminal underground boss Katiso Molefe’s house during his arrest.
The EFF did not follow up on its threats.
“It was the same with Kenny on the transport portfolio, it is what we agreed. Now why are the minority parties, even if they have got a grievance with our mayor, ganging up against a coalition partner and demanding that the mayor must resign and the ANC must give them another mayor? It has never been done,” Mbalula said.
“If there is something that Dada is doing that undermines coalition partners, they must raise it with us so we rein in Dada and if we come to a conclusion that we need to remove him, it is our case.”
Mbalula said ANC councillors in Johannesburg working with the opposition to remove Morero were doing so over differences linked to last December’s contentious elective conference in the region, in which Morero lost the position of chairperson to Loyiso Masuku.
Ballots used in the vote were last Sunday allegedly found opened at the house of the officer who presided over the December vote.
This came amid tensions within the region over accusations that the Johannesburg conference was manipulated to favour party deputy president Paul Mashatile’s faction over that of Mbalula as they bid for the ANC top job at the 2027 national elective conference.
“There is this murmuring that actually this motion involves some ANC councillors (and) it will be unfortunate because the ANC doesn’t work that way,” Mbalula said this week.
Earlier this week, sources told the M&G that the City of Johannesburg was pushing for Masuku’s appointment as deputy mayor, should the motion against Morero fail.
The deputy mayor’s functions would be identical to those in the Tshwane municipality, where ANC regional chair Bonzo Modise is technically the MMC for finance but also holds the title of deputy mayor.
An insider said the agreement to make Masuku a deputy mayor had been reached by the ANC in December last year after she toppled Morero to become Johannesburg chair.
“The ANC resolved in December to create this post and make the current chair a deputy mayor,” the source said.
A proposal to council, which is dated 29 January 2026 and has been seen by the M&G, seeks approval for the establishment and election of an executive deputy mayor, in accordance with applicable legislative provisions, in order to strengthen executive leadership, ensure continuity of governance and enhance service delivery.
It notes that in 2023, the Johannesburg council speaker received correspondence from the Gauteng MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs and infrastructure development, proposing that the city consider electing an executive deputy mayor in line with the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act.
The report said that in light of the increasing complexity of governance and service delivery demands in Johannesburg, it had become necessary to revisit the MEC’s proposal and consider the election of an executive deputy mayor to provide additional executive support to the mayor.
The absence of a formally established executive deputy mayor position presented governance and operational risks, particularly during periods when the executive mayor was absent or unavailable, it added.
“The executive deputy mayor will ensure uninterrupted executive authority in instances where the executive mayor is absent, unavailable or when the office of the executive mayor becomes vacant,” it said.
“The position will assist in sharing the executive workload, improving coordination of municipal programmes and strengthening political oversight of the administration. Through delegated responsibilities, the executive deputy mayor will support the monitoring of service delivery projects, accelerate decision-making and enhance responsiveness to community needs.”
Johannesburg city spokesperson Nthatise Modingoane had not responded to the M&G’s request for comment at the time of publication.