Joburg’s Gwamanda not going anywhere– Al Jama Ah
Despite the ANC regional leadership in Johannesburg's insistence that Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is on his way out, Al Jama Ah leader Ganief Hendricks says it’s not going to be that simple.
The African National Congress (ANC) in Johannesburg has signalled that it wants to ditch the coalition agreement that installed Gwamanda as mayor in 2023 and field its own mayoral candidate.
He became Joburg’s fourth mayor since the 2021 local elections.
It’s been widely speculated that the current finance MMC Dada Morero is the preferred candidate within the ANC to take over as executive Mayor.
READ MORE: Joburg Crisis Alliance ups call for Gwamanda’s removal
However, Hendricks says Gwamanda will stay put as long as he has the mandate from the ANC national leadership to lead the nine-party Johannesburg coalition.
“They’ve got to come up with a mayor who’s acceptable to the nine political parties. At the moment, Al Jama Ah has the mandate from the ANC’s top leadership, which the Joburg regional leadership is not happy with, and they haven’t changed my mandate.
“Unless they change my mandate, nothing’s going to happen.”
The Al Jama-Ah leader says previous engagements with both the ANC’s regional and provincial leadership became heated.
“We had a meeting at Ruth First House with the ANC’s regional committee—which threw its toys out of the cot, maintaining its position of 2023—and the provincial secretary. That meeting ended with us threatening our relationship, and they now understand they have to wait for their national leadership to make a decision…
“When it comes to the election of the mayor, it’s not a decision of the regional committee, and they insist it’s their prerogative.”
Hendricks says he’s contacted the ANC’s provincial secretary and was awaiting a response from TK Nciza on the proposals he’s made to resolve the ongoing tensions.
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