Major South African city plunged into political chaos

The City of Ekurhuleni has been plunged into further political instability as the Metropolitan Municipality’s newly appointed Finance MMC, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, has resigned, and the council has been left without a speaker.

Dlabathi is believed to have resigned as both the City’s Finance and Strategy MMC as well as the ANC’s regional secretary following a fallout with regional chairperson and mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza.

This leaves another gap in the mayor’s contentious mayoral committee, the constitution of which has already angered coalition partners.

The announcement of Dlabathi’s resignation comes only a day after the mayor appointed the final three members of his mayoral committee, all members of the ANC. 

The mayor appointed Nkgopotse Nsizwa Mekgwe to Human Settlements, Siyabonga Matthews Moloi to Community Services and Dora Mlambo to Economic Infrastructure and Development. 

Mlambo was appointed to the position of speaker in January 2026. Taking the position of MMC means she can no longer be the speaker and is forced to resign as well.

Following the latest reshuffle, the ANC holds 8 of the 10 portfolios. It is not yet clear who will fill the Finance position.

Dino Peterson from the Patriotic Alliance (PA), Development Planning MMC, and Siphumule Ntombela from the National Freedom Party (NFP), Corporate and Shared Services MMC, remain. 

The Mayor’s office said that the new appointments “reflect a considered and inclusive process designed to consolidate collective leadership, promote institutional stability and ensure the effective execution of the city’s developmental mandate.”

The ANC has been slammed for the reshuffles. ActionSA’s Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate Xolani Khumalo said the mayor is “plunging the city into chaos.”

Mayor reshuffles mayco twice in two weeks

“In just two weeks, the mayor has reshuffled his mayoral committee twice in a unilateral decision that even members of his own political party are found wanting,” he said. 

Khumalo added that appointing Mlambo as speaker was “opening the door for the city to be placed under administration.”

“ActionSA is of the view that the mayor could have appointed any other councillor in his party, but he chose the speaker out of political expediency.”

The EFF’s provincial chairperson in Gauteng, Nkululeko Dunga, said that these changes will not lead to improved service delivery, and criticised the mayor for appointing the members only hours before council was due to vote on the adjusted budget. 

Hearing of the resignation of the finance MMC, Dunga posted on social media platform X, “Look at all these fools who have ever pronounced and ridiculed this movement, one by one they fall on their own sword.”

A shaky, minority coalition government

This follows Xhakaza’s first committee reshuffle earlier this month. The mayor attempted to appoint ActionSA’s Khumalo as MMC of Community Services and Bylaw Enforcement, a post which the party subsequently rejected. 

“We will not lend credibility to an administration that has overseen the lawless deterioration of service delivery that continues to cripple the city,” said leader of ActionSA, Herman Mashaba. 

In the same reshuffle, Xhakaza cut the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MMC positions from four to two, sparking outrage from the party, which subsequently pulled out of the precarious coalition. 

The party argued that both councillors who were removed were performing well in their portfolios and “have been of exemplary service to the people of Ekurhuleni.”

The party said this follows a greater trend. In 2024, the EFF MMC of Finance, Nkululeko Dunga, was unfairly removed, and most recently, the ANC has refused to fill the vacancy of the speaker of council with an EFF member, after the EFF removed the speaker. 

The party called the reshuffling an attempt to constitute a mayoral committee with fewer EFF councillors.

This leaves the City of Ekurhuleni with an ANC-PA-NFP coalition and a minority government. Previously, the city was governed by an ANC-EFF-AIC coalition. 

Following the first reshuffle, Dlabathi and Xhakaza held a media briefing on 20 February where the pair told the public that the metro was not in danger of collapse.

Xhakaza defended himself during the recent media briefing, saying he was “extending a hand” to Khumalo as a former member of the ANC by offering him a MMC position.

He added that the decision to remove two EFF MMCs was informed by the idea of representational government

“In the 122 wards of the City of Ekurhuleni, the ANC leads in 78. 78 of those wards. EFF has got zilch,” he said.