The DA is ‘running Johannesburg down’ – ANC

African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has said that his party cannot be blamed for the poor governance in Johannesburg over the past decade, whereas the DA can.

“Why do people in Johannesburg believe that most of the problems in Johannesburg are now problems of the ANC when we lost power ten years ago?” Mbalula said on 26 October.

“And this Democratic Alliance (DA) that is making so much noise, they are running this place down.”

“We lost power and, for some time, were even out of the executive, and our comrades could not even exploit that,” he added.

The ANC lost its outright majority in Johannesburg after the 2016. It should be noted that since then, five ANC mayors have been sworn in, along with two ANC-backed Al-Jama’a mayors.

Mbalula was addressing members at Liliesleaf during a branch general meeting when he made the remarks.

His comments about the City of Johannesburg came moments after he pointed to the party’s “existential crisis.”

“We are facing an existential crisis, and fundamentally, the question is: what are we going to do about it?”

“We want the revolutionaries who are fighting to be showing from the front that we are reclaiming this Johannesburg.”

He said that the ANC could not get distracted by what other parties are doing, especially regarding the announcement of other mayoral candidates, such as Helen Zille.

“Stop arguing about some MaGogo who is announced; let’s have our own MaGogo. I’m happy now to see the ANC focus and the mayor focus. That mayor position is big,” Mbalula said.

Newsday has reached out to the DA for comment, but did not receive a response by publication. Comment will be added once received.

However, DA Johannesburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku has argued that the ANC’s Dada Morero, who is the current mayor, is pushing the city to the brink of collapse.

“The City of Johannesburg is sliding towards financial ruin and service delivery collapse. In the event that he fails to address this, he should step down,” she said in September.

“The DA will not allow residents to be held hostage by questionable decisions, political protection rackets, and reckless financial mismanagement.”

A turbulent ten years

The city has experienced significant political turbulence over the past decade, with eleven mayors serving as executives throughout the period. It’s worth noting that the city has only had twelve since 2000.

After the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality was established at the turn of the century, the ANC achieved a majority in the local government elections, winning 128 of the 217 seats in the council.

Amos Masondo was elected as the first mayor of the unified metro, a position he held for the next eleven years after the ANC managed to increase its seats in the council to 138 in 2006, maintaining the majority.

The party managed to improve on its previous performance in 2011, accumulating 153 of the 260 seats in the city council, with Parks Tau, now serving as Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, elected as mayor.

However, in 2016, the party saw a decline in support in Johannesburg. While it garnered the most support during elections — 121 seats — smaller parties sided with the DA, which had 104 seats, to elect Herman Mashaba as mayor.

He remained mayor until 2019, when he resigned from the position and quit the party, stating that he could not “reconcile himself with people who believe that race is not important in their discussion of inequalities.”

Mashaba was then replaced by the ANC’s Geoff Makhubo, who was elected in December of that year.

This kicked off the revolving door of executives in the council, with two ANC mayors succeeding Makhubo before the November 2021 elections. These were Jolidee Matongo and Mpho Moerane.

The DA managed to get its candidate, Mpho Phalatse, elected as mayor, beating Moerane.

However, Phalatse only remained in the position for a year after she was voted out following a motion of no confidence, citing service delivery failures.

The ANC’s Dada Morero replaced her at the end of September 2022, but the High Court ruled that the motion of no confidence against Phalatse was unlawful, and she was eventually reinstated.

At the beginning of 2023, the council successfully ousted her as mayor through a motion of no confidence, with 140 votes in favour.

She was replaced by Thapelo Ahmed from Al Jama-ah, who only lasted until April of that year, when he resigned a day before a motion of no confidence was to be held against him.

Kabelo Gwamanda, also from Al Jama-ah, replaced Ahmed as mayor until he was pressured to resign from the position by the ANC in August 2024.

The ANC’s Dada Morero replaced Gwamanda, who was arrested in October that year on allegations of fraud around an alleged funeral policy scam he ran in 2011. Morero has remained in office since.