Joburg Mayor Dada Morero is still in office after surviving yet another motion of no confidence.
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Joburg Mayor Dada Morero has survived yet another bid to remove him from office, after a collapse of a motion of no confidence in a council meeting on Thursday not because of numbers, but because of absence.
A motion of no confidence, tabled by Al Jama-ah and its minority party partners, collapsed during Thursday’s council sitting after procedural requirements were not met.
When Speaker Margaret Arnolds called for the proposer, Lubabalo Cecil Magwentshu of the African Transformation Movement (ATM) was absent.
He later indicated he had been summoned by party leadership and was not in the chamber. With no proposer or seconder present, Arnolds ruled the motion invalid.
“The proposer is not here. I don’t see the seconder. The motion falls off. There is no such motion,” she said, as applause echoed through the chamber.
The motion had already been delayed for weeks to allow legal consultation over demands for a secret ballot, heightening political tension around Morero’s leadership.
The failed bid unfolded just hours after Loyiso Masuku was elected Johannesburg’s first-ever deputy mayor, consolidating the ANC’s hold on both top posts in the city.
Insiders say the creation of the deputy mayor position was aimed at stabilising internal ANC divisions and closing ranks ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
Morero, who lost his position as ANC Johannesburg regional chair last year, remained politically vulnerable but, for now, firmly in office.
Meanwhile, Masuku is expected to be sworn in on Friday.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics