ANC has announced Geoff Makhubo as its mayoral candidate for City of Johannesburg.

Makhubo is the ANC’s regional chairperson since last year.

“The voice of the electorate must be respected therefore we are fielding a candidate. We are going to nominate comrade Geoff as the mayor of Johannesburg and we hope everything will go well,” said ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule.

Magashule said that they would also nominate Nonceba Molwele as the speaker.

Sowetan has learnt that the ANC has struck a deal with the IFP who have now agreed to vote for Makhubo with them. The IFP has five seats in the City Of Johannesburg municipality.

The details of the deal are sketchy but one of the demands the IFP has allegedly put on the table is a guarantee of a municipality in KZN and two departments in Johannesburg.

It is understood that the ANC will let the IFP retain Abaqulusi local municipality near Newscastle when it comes to a vote.

City of Johannesburg council will today elect a new mayor to replace Herman Mashaba who resigned.

Mashaba’s tenure came to an end yesterday, a move that has left the DA exposed to a possibility of losing the metro.

The vote for mayor will be contested by DA’s Funzi Ngobeni, ANC’s Makhubo and EFF’s Musa Novela.

DA provincial leader John Moodey has said that DA was aware of the possibility of losing the mayorship today because the EFF had refused to engage with them after their divorce early this year. If the EFF does not vote with the DA, the democrats will lose the metro.

"If the EFF doesn't vote with us on Thursday, we are going to lose the metro," said Moodey.

"There are no negotiations with the EFF. We tried to open up to them but...We are now going to go in the seating in good faith and hope that the EFF votes in good faith."