Dada Morero is expected to spend the year playing political chess in his own party.
Dada Morero may have survived yet another motion of no confidence, but an analyst believes that he will have a turbulent tenure as the mayor of the City of Johannesburg.
Morero’s party refused a request from some of their coalition partners to recall him; they also refused to remove him through a motion of no confidence, which would have embarrassed the party.
At a council meeting on Thursday, the motion was deferred to allow the council speaker to consult extensively on the possibility of a secret ballot.
This is a difficult time for Morero, as he lacks political power within his own party. He lost the ANC’s Joburg elective conference in December to his political nemesis Loyiso Masuku.
Masuku’s faction has been trying to remove Morero from office since his defeat at that conference, even though they have not publicly admitted this.
The Citizen spoke to Andre Duvenhage, a political analyst from North West University (NWU), about developments in the City of Johannesburg.
“He (Morero) will have no peace, he does not have the political support from some within his own party, and he is also struggling with some of his coalition partners. He needs this support in order to carry out what is constitutionally mandated to do.
“He has the position, but there are serious reservations about his position. You can compare his position to that of President Ramaphosa, his whole term since he won the 2017 conference. He has had a legitimacy problem,” Duvenhage said.
Duvenhage said the opposition to Morero also has to do with the ANC 2027 leadership race.
“There is a bigger leadership contest at play. What is happening here is that Fikile Mbalula is in conflict with the likes of Panyaza Lesufi and Paul Mashatile. Both groupings would like to promote their interests, so you must also take into consideration that this is the biggest metro in the country with the biggest resource base.”
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Why Luthuli House wants Morero to stay
On the other hand, Duvenhage said the ANC wants to keep Morero in his position to avoid appearing to be clumsy in an election year.
His stay in the mayoral office has been supported by the ANC’s national leaders, including the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula.
“We are 10 months away from the local government elections, and I think that is part of the calculation of the ANC; they do not want to be seen as creating instability and conflict before an election. This would be bad for a party which is already in trouble. What they are doing is a bit of risk assessment,” he said.
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in Johannesburg has complained that Morero being mayor, while not the chairperson of the ANC in Johannesburg, creates two centres of power.
But Mbalula said there is no such thing; he said Morero, like any other candidate, is there to implement ANC policy.
Why does Morero want to stay?
Duvenhage believes that, despite knowing that he will have a rough term as mayor this year, Morero may just choose to stay for the benefits.
“Right now, for him, personal interest is more important than public interest. He has a mayor’s salary for another 9 or 10 months. There are also benefactors who would like to support him in his position. They will keep him happy for as long as he can exercise influence from his position,” he said.
Duvenhage said the opposition in the Johannesburg council has the opportunity to take advantage of the weakness of the ANC, especially with the expected swearing in of Helen Zille as a councillor and her contest as mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg.
He said ActionSA is another strong contender in the City of Johannesburg, having won 44 seats in the 2021 local government elections.
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