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What you need to know about Joburg’s new mayor, Jolidee Matongo
Before being elected mayor of Joburg, Matongo was the city's member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for finance.
Joburg mayor Jolidee Matongo. Picture: Twitter
ANC councillor Jolidee Matongo has been elected the new mayor of the City of Johannesburg, during a special meeting held by council for the mayoral election.
This follows the death of mayor Geoff Makhubo in July, who succumbed to Covid-related complications.
Political career and credentials
Matongo, the city’s member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for finance, was officially announced last week as the ANC’s mayoral candidate after undergoing an interview process with the party’s national leaders.
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Matongo, 46, hails from Soweto, and is a member of the ANC Johannesburg regional executive committee.
He has a diploma in public management and development, a B-Tech degree in public management and a post-graduate diploma in management.
The MMC is also currently pursuing a master’s degree in public management.
Before becoming executive mayor of Johannesburg, Matongo was a student activist, sinking his teeth into politics at just 13. He also served in the ANC’s communication department for a number of years.
Before returning to the city as finance MMC, Matongo worked in Gauteng provincial government as chief of staff for the offices offices of the Gauteng Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) for the departments of sport, economic development and agriculture.
He started his work for the city of Johannesburg in the housing department, before becoming deputy director of youth development
He has been a member of the Johannesburg ANC Regional Executive Committee for 18 years.
Matongo lives in Lenasia with his family.
Coalition partners
The United Democratic Movement, Inkatha Freedom Party, the Congress of the People, the African Independent Congress and Al Jama-ah were all in support the ANC’s mayoral candidate.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, the ANC Greater Johannesburg region said it was confident that Matongo had what it takes to lead the city.
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The region said it also had good working relations with its coalition partners in the municipality.
“These are party relations which are based on certain agreed principles that we still hold dearly and remain committed to. The ANC will therefore still be voting together with coalition partners and the party agreements between us and our partners will be retained as they were.
“We know, value and respect their commitment to service delivery and as such, we are confident that our common interests of stability, service delivery and development will triumph,” said ANC regional spokesperson Sasabona Manganye.
The extraordinary council meeting was held face-to-face in council and at various venues virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Proceedings were also live-streamed on social media platforms.
Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe and Nica Richards.
