ANC vs MGP: Joburg coalition partners accused of going ‘rogue’

The ANC in Johannesburg has threatened to cut off some of its coalition partners it accused of going rogue.

This after the partners “threatened” Mayor Dada Morero with a motion of no confidence.

A group of parties describing themselves as the Minority Governing Parties (MGP) told the media on Tuesday that they had submitted the motion against Morero. The group comprises Al Jama-ah, AHC, UDM and ATM. The motion is reportedly expected to be debated in council in November.

Council speaker Margaret Arnolds told The Citizen that the motion had not been lodged. This was confirmed by the ANC and Good party, who are both part of the government of local unity (GLU) coalition.

‘They can’t threaten the mayor whenever they feel’

Speaking to The Citizen on Wednesday, ANC regional secretary Sasa Manganye said the ANC felt disrespected by these parties.

“They cannot threaten the mayor whenever they feel like it, that is not how you deal with your coalition partners,” he said.

He described these parties as “rogue”.

“We are not happy with this kind of conduct. If there was a need to remove the mayor we do not remove a mayor of the ANC through a motion of no confidence.

“When Thapelo Amad was mayor, we never placed a motion of no confidence in him, the same as Kabelo [Gwamanda].

“We have treated them like coalition partners, and we expect the same respect from them,” he said.

Manganye said the group of parties that want Morero gone are destabilising the municipality.

“It is up to them if they want to be in a coalition or not with us. We have worked with them for some time now. But we do not want to work with people who do not respect us,” he said.

Manyanye said Morero has improved service delivery in the City of Johannesburg and is now preparing the city to host the G20 conference.

Reasons to boot out Morero

The MGP outlined their grievances.

“Under mayor Morero’s tenure, Johannesburg has experienced one of its most difficult periods of administrative instability and service delivery collapse,” they said.

“Among the most serious issues are national and provincial interference in the city’s internal appointments, especially the appointment of the city manager, undermining council authority and administrative independence.

“The sweeping of R4 billion from Johannesburg Water’s accounts, a reckless act that endangered service delivery and breached the principles of the Municipal Finance Management Act, the worsening service delivery failures, including prolonged water outages, continued electricity outages, crumbling infrastructure and growing frustration among residents.”

The ANC responded to the reports claiming “an attack on the executive mayor, Dada Morero, is in essence, an attack on the ANC itself”.

“This purported motion is nothing more than a desperate and opportunistic attempt by fringe political actors seeking relevance at the expense of service delivery and stability in the City of Johannesburg.

“Their sudden public posture is therefore disingenuous and driven by narrow political motives rather than the genuine interests of the residents of Johannesburg.”

The parties, however, emphasised that the motion was not an attack on the ANC.

“The MGP wishes to make it categorically clear that this motion is not against the ANC or its role in the GLU.

“Our differences are not partisan they are principled. The MGP respects the ANC’s participation in the GLU but firmly believes that the leadership of Morero has compromised the stability and credibility of the coalition.

“This motion seeks to change the mayor, not to break the coalition, and to restore collective leadership that reflects consultation, transparency and lawful governance.”

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Destabilising government

The Good party accused the minority parties in the MGP of grand standing and destabilising government for their benefit.

“It is election season and there are parties that are scared that they will not come back to council. I think tricks like this will be played by people on the way to the elections,” said councillor Mathew Cook.

“I think there is a real drive from certain parties to disrupt the government. I do not know if this is bullying for positions, or what their objective is.”

Cook said even if a motion is brought formally to council at a later stage, they would not support it.

“We really want to see a stable government and we think that the mayor and his team are starting to steer in the right direction this is not cooperative governance, it’s grandstanding,” he said.

An accident

The Citizen recently reported that the group of parties that want Morero gone were demanding that he must fire MMC of community safety Tebogo Nkonkou and replace him with former mayor Thapelo Amad, who was removed from his position in 2023.

He was accused of incompetence by his coalition partners at the time.

The Citizen reached out to Nkonkou on Wednesday for comment but a relative responded on his phone saying he is in hospital and that he had a car accident on his way back from a soccer game last week.

Brink

Meanwhile, the council will meet on Thursday to approve the appointment of city manager Floyd Brink.

Manganye confirmed to The Citizen that the ANC will endorse his appointment after discussion with the party’s mother body.

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