Johannesburg Mayor Cabello Guamanda of the League Ah party is likely to survive an imminent motion of no-confidence scheduled for later this month.
This is despite signs that the local unity government is in trouble after ANC President Baniaza Lisofi told delegates at the party’s second annual local government summit that some of their coalition partners were treating the ANC badly.
“One of our members in the Local Unity Government asked our advisor in Ward 7 to resign. Just imagine, we’re in a coalition with you and you go and say to one of the members, ‘Someone you’re running a government with, you have to resign,'” Lisovi said.
Ward 7 is located in Finetown/Ennerdale in the far south of Johannesburg: It recently held a hotly contested by-election which saw the National Alliance triumph after DA candidate Randel Markgraf withdrew, after being offered R5 million by the PA. It was too late for the DA to nominate a replacement for Markgraf.
Read more at The Daily Maverick: The PA takes advantage of the DA’s absence to defeat the ANC in the Joburg ward, but the ruling party scores a decisive victory over the IFP in KZN
The by-election was held following the resignation of ANC council member Amelia Zama, who was elected in the 2021 local government elections. She has since joined the Palestinian Authority.
Johannesburg is home to six million people. The city is struggling financially and its road infrastructure is falling apart. Constant power outages and water cuts that last for days are now the norm.
Lesovi admits the coalition’s arrangement is far from perfect, but says they will “crush” any attempts to remove Guamanda from the top job.
The mayor is set to face a motion of no confidence brought by “Actionsa” over his failure to address allegations of dodgy dealings two months after taking office.
“Where we stand now, in Johannesburg, we are unstoppable. Any motion against us, we will crush that motion,” Lisovi said.
The ANC, EFF and DA have indicated that they will not vote for the motion of no confidence. Parties occupy 191 of the 270 seats in the council.
Read more at The Daily Maverick: Joburg’s “delinquent” mayor makes a state of the city address despite a threat of no confidence
Daily Maverick Previously mentioned Guamanda has defended himself against the allegations. He was part of a company known as the iThemba Lama Africa Funeral Scheme to which people reportedly transferred money at his behest. His party has admitted the allegations are partially true.
said former mayor Thapilo Amade Daily Maverick that he and Guamanda were part of the scheme when they were “young and naive”. He said they helped people who were strapped for cash out of their own pockets by burying their loved ones. When the group attempted to convert the NPO into a corporation, it failed.
However, ActionSA said the mayor has not addressed the allegations broadly and that if he does not do so by Tuesday, it will sponsor a motion of no confidence.
“We cannot allow South Africa’s economic capital to be run by a mayor who faces serious allegations of duping residents out of funeral insurance investments at a time when service delivery is declining across the city,” said ActionSA caucus leader Funzi Ngobeni. .
“Since his election in May, Guamanda has continually evaded media opportunities to air the serious allegations he faces.”
Despite offering support, Lesufi explained that Gwamanda was not the ANC’s mayor, but had taken the position due to the party’s attempts to overthrow the DA in several municipalities.
“Anyone who deceives you that the mayor of Joburg is the ANC mayor is incorrect. All we did was vote against the DA… That’s what we did. The current mayor is not the ANC mayor. He’s a mayor who defeated the DA.”
Extreme warming
Lisofi said the ANC in Gauteng would do everything it could to prevent the DA from running municipalities, and in cases where a coalition arrangement did not work, Lisofi said the party would not be content with paying attention.
We are not married to coalitions. Those who are in alliance with us must not think that we shall watch when they corrupt our municipalities and do wrong things in our municipalities. We’ll get to a point where We cannot remove it at any time. “
Lesovey outlined four non-negotiable areas that the party would prioritize: job creation, crime prevention, service delivery and an end to load shedding in the province.
“Every ANC-led municipality, along with regional and national governments, must come together to ensure that load shedding ends in Gauteng.”
The local government summit continues on Wednesday. The ANC’s coalition strategy is expected to be discussed as the country prepares for the 2024 national elections. DM
