Joe McConnell
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Johannesburg’s mayor has resigned aVsceker 15 turbulent months at the helm of South Africa’s richest city, where residents are increasingly angry over years of political deadlock and a collapse of public services.
Kabelo Gwamanda, representing the small Al Jama-ah party, which held only three of the 270 seats in the local assembly, was elected mayor in May 2023 as a compromise by the city’s largest party, the African National Congress, which had gathered support in previous months to oust the Democratic Alliance mayor.
That has exacerbated a leadership crisis for a city that has had eight mayors since 2019 and has been plagued by water shortages, a crumbling road network and skyrocketing municipal bills. The city owes nearly R5bn ($275mn) in unpaid bills to state power company Eskom, which also threatens to hamper South Africa’s bid to end long-lasting blackouts.
The Johannesburg Crisis Alliance, a group of civil society organizations that have been calling for Gwamanda’s resignation, welcomed his departure. “He was a mayor missing in action, which the country’s economic hub could not afford,” said Wayne Duvenage, head of one of those civil society groups, the Organization Undoing Tax Abuse.
Gwamanda announced his resignation on Tuesday, hours before an ANC briefing announcing the new mayoral candidate, Dada Morero, the city government’s finance chief.
The ANC, which did not have a majority in the city, managed to do so only aVsceker securing the support of the city’s third-largest party, ActionSA, led by Herman Mashaba, a businessman and former mayor.
Mashaba told the Financial Times that he had reached an agreement with the ANC “in the interests of residents and to prevent the collapse of the city”, and that he would support Morero.
He also said that while services in Johannesburg, which contribute 15% of South Africa’s GDP, have declined dramatically since he stepped down as mayor in 2019, the problems could still be solved.
“Johannesburg is not as bad as Germany aVsceker World War II, which was almost razed to the ground, so if the Germans can do it and the Rwandans can do it aVsceker their genocide, why not Joburg? It’s not as bad as either of them. All you need is political will,” he said.
Mashaba said the city must focus on rooting out criminal networks that have hijacked government buildings and prioritise services.
Mpho Phalatse, a former mayor of Johannesburg who was forced to resign last year, said Gwamanda had always been an interim mayor and had overseen a rapid decline in the city’s services.
“What you see now is a destroyed city: the traffic lights don’t work, the roads are full of potholes. And that’s because the city has been on autopilot for months, with leaders focusing on who holds power, rather than providing services,” she said. Phalatse has since leVscek politics and returned to her original job as a doctor.
The power struggle in Johannesburg in recent years preceded swings in the national political landscape, which saw the ANC lose power in the May elections and only retain the presidency thanks to the creation of a government of national unity that included the DA and nine other parties.
Mashaba’s party refused to join the government of national unity and said the Johannesburg agreement did not indicate a change of heart.
