Cracks are starting to show in the Government of Local Unity. Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda. Picture: Timothy Bernard Independent Newspapers
Cracks are showing as civil society organisations said they have lost faith in the ANC-led coalition government in the City of Joburg.
These civil society organisations are calling for the removal of Kabelo Gwamanda as Johannesburg mayor. Gwamanda is a member of the Al Jama-ah party, which is part of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Analysts say this move would likely threaten the stability of service delivery, as parties of different ideological orientations are competing for influence, causing further upheavals in the national and provincial governments.
Representing Rivonia Circle, Tessa Dooms said people have waited far too long in the hope that politicians would rescue them.
“I think for too long we have waited and hoped that politicians are going to save us, that politicians are going to magically find the right combinations and the right ways and it has gotten to the point where there are coalition governments because we don't trust them,” Dooms said.
She said the municipality should be called to account for leaving communities without electricity and water.
“We are going to continue to put our feet on their necks until we have leaders who care.
“The leadership crisis in the city and the specific failures of the executive mayor are reflected in the arrogant and insensitive handling of the electricity surcharge,” she added.
Calls to remove Gwamanda are mounting, as partners in the Government of Local Unity (GLU) also call for his head, which would go against the national coalition agreement.
A source known to The Star and who is part of the GLU told the publication that coalition partners share ActionSA’s position.
“It is inevitable that Gwamanda will be demoted to being an MMC when Dada (finance MMC Dada Morero) takes over as a preferred ANC government. In fact, partners have the same sentiments with ActionSA about Gwamanda – that he is an absent mayor,” the source said.
The source continued to say that they couldn’t fight the decision of the ANC to remove Gwamanda, as both parties had agreed that the position belonged to the ANC but Al Jama-ah would occupy the mayoral position.
“We can’t fight it. It was an initial agreement at the formation of the government. If the ANC feels it’s time, then, yeah, as the GLU we have to support it.”
Meanwhile, Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks has said that Gwamanda is going nowhere and will remain as mayor. For Hendricks, the small parties that believed in the GNU now realise that what they have been given can easily be taken away, threatening the very unity.
This follows an agreement between the ANC and ActionSA to work together in the City of Joburg to have Gwamanda ousted along with Speaker Margaret Arnolds, and for ActionSA to occupy the Speaker position.
Other organisations that have spoken out against the mayor and expressed frustration over what they described as incompetent leadership in the metro include the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
Meanwhile, despite condemning the DA and the IFP’s decision to join the GNU, ActionSA has joined them among other parties in blocking a motion of no confidence against Tshwane executive mayor Cilliers Brink by the ANC.
Joint caucus chairperson of the Multi-Party Government, Jacqui Uys, said on Thursday that the motion was not about service delivery, but represented an attempt by the ANC to secure its interests in waste collection contracts.
Currently, the Tshwane coalition includes the Republican Conference Tshwane, Patriotic Alliance, Cope, PAC, GOOD Party, African Transformation Movement and the AIC.
However, SACP leader Solly Mapaila said much of the unfolding uncertainty in metros would not exist if the ANC partnered with like-minded parties such as the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) and the EFF.
Addressing the Mandela Day dialogue at Freedom Park on Wednesday, Mapaila said both the MKP and the EFF were not a threat to the ANC and GNU.
The Star
sipho.jack@inl.co.za