The coalition government in the City of Johannesburg appears to be on a shaky ground again following public spats between members of its mayoral committee.
At the weekend, the ANC in Johannesburg issued a rebuke of MMC for roads and transport Kenny Kunene who launched a scathing attack on his colleague MMC for finance Dada Morero last week.
This comes in the backdrop of a mooted motion of no confidence by opposition against out of sorts mayor Kabelo Gwamanda whose leadership has been called into question.
Last week, Kunene accused Morero of blocking funds allocated to entities that fall under his department in what he said was an attempt to fail his department. Kunene described Morero as “a very selfish and greedy person”. In Morero’s defence, the ANC in Joburg described Kunene’s remarks as an attack on the party and for the first time publicly called on Gwamanda “to show leadership at this time and call members of his mayoral committee back to order”.
“He must act decisively in the interest of the unity, stability and cohesion of the government of local unity,” said ANC Greater Johannesburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye.
This is unprecedented given the ANC has gone to great lengths to defend Gwamanda in the past when his leadership was called into scrutiny only to call him out publicly. It begs the question, when did they find this wisdom that the centre hasn’t been holding in the city for a while now?
Though the latest developments will come hardly as a surprise to many observers given the history of the coalition arrangements, they ought to concern residents of Johannesburg.
This is because the conflicts have little to do with how best to serve the citizens of the city but rather the interest of the political parties in the government of local unity. It would be naive to overlook the interest of each political party in the coalition when examining the driving force behind these egotistical personality clashes. With the 2024 national and provincial elections looming, we can reasonably expect that things are going to degenerate into a circus as parties and leaders seek to outdo one another to garner votes.
But how can the voters trust these very same politicians who show lack of maturity and contribute to the instability of the metro at the expense of service delivery.
SOWETAN | Lack of maturity cause of Joburg instability
Image: Veli Nhlapo
The coalition government in the City of Johannesburg appears to be on a shaky ground again following public spats between members of its mayoral committee.
At the weekend, the ANC in Johannesburg issued a rebuke of MMC for roads and transport Kenny Kunene who launched a scathing attack on his colleague MMC for finance Dada Morero last week.
This comes in the backdrop of a mooted motion of no confidence by opposition against out of sorts mayor Kabelo Gwamanda whose leadership has been called into question.
Last week, Kunene accused Morero of blocking funds allocated to entities that fall under his department in what he said was an attempt to fail his department. Kunene described Morero as “a very selfish and greedy person”. In Morero’s defence, the ANC in Joburg described Kunene’s remarks as an attack on the party and for the first time publicly called on Gwamanda “to show leadership at this time and call members of his mayoral committee back to order”.
“He must act decisively in the interest of the unity, stability and cohesion of the government of local unity,” said ANC Greater Johannesburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye.
This is unprecedented given the ANC has gone to great lengths to defend Gwamanda in the past when his leadership was called into scrutiny only to call him out publicly. It begs the question, when did they find this wisdom that the centre hasn’t been holding in the city for a while now?
Though the latest developments will come hardly as a surprise to many observers given the history of the coalition arrangements, they ought to concern residents of Johannesburg.
This is because the conflicts have little to do with how best to serve the citizens of the city but rather the interest of the political parties in the government of local unity. It would be naive to overlook the interest of each political party in the coalition when examining the driving force behind these egotistical personality clashes. With the 2024 national and provincial elections looming, we can reasonably expect that things are going to degenerate into a circus as parties and leaders seek to outdo one another to garner votes.
But how can the voters trust these very same politicians who show lack of maturity and contribute to the instability of the metro at the expense of service delivery.
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