A faction within the ANC in Johannesburg is accusing Dada Morero of failing to deliver services.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has spoken out against some members of his party who have called for Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero to resign.
Last week, Morero lost his bid to be re-elected as the regional chairperson of the ANC in Johannesburg at a regional conference that was held in Woodmead.
His competitor, Loyiso Mauku, received most of the votes, prompting the IEC to declare her the new chairperson of the region.
Following this development, the ANCYL in Johannesburg called for Morero’s resignation. They claim that his loss creates two centres of power.
Traditionally, the chairperson of the ANC in the region is recommended as the party’s mayoral candidate.
However, Mbalula urged people not to be overly preoccupied with who becomes the mayor of Johannesburg.
“Being chairperson of a region does not give you the status of a mayor, especially in a City where you have lost. Even the fact that Dada became a mayor is a favour that other parties have done for us,” said Mbalula.
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“This is the problem, people are not looking at organising the ANC for the better, they are fighting over scrambles. We can make anyone a mayor at any time, but a mayor of what, a coalition government?
“We are not in power in Johannesburg; the task of the Regional Executive Committee that has just been elected should be fighting to get the ANC back, not getting rid of Dada,” he said.
Power and positions
He called out the culture of chasing power and positions in the ANC.
“The first thing people talk about is who must become the mayor; that is the most important statement for them,” he said.
Mbalula said he believes Masuku is capable of leading in various roles, but for now, the ANC should focus on regaining lost support.
“The fact that they had a very good conference must be supported. That energy must now translate to working very hard in Johannesburg to win the confidence of the people.
“So the issue of who becomes the mayor in Johannesburg is not a priority, and it is not going to preoccupy us; the preoccupation is going to be preparing the ANC to win big in Johannesburg.
“We just came from a very successful regional conference, and the first thing people think about is that the current mayor must vacate the space and someone else must come in, which cannot be the preoccupation of the movement, and we actually condemn it,” he said.
Who will become mayoral candidate?
There were talks that the ANC could bring in one of their national leaders to become the mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg in next year’s local government elections, but that has not been confirmed.
The ANC in Johannesburg emerged from its regional conference divided, with accusations of vote-buying and some questioning the electoral process.
They now face the hard task of preparing the organisation for a tough contest in the local government elections.
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