A faction of minority parties that brought a motion of no confidence proposal against Dada Morero have agreed to resolve their differences with the mayor.
The former mayor of Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda, has withdrawn a motion of no confidence proposal against the current mayor, Dada Morero.
This move comes after a meeting of coalition partners on Monday afternoon.
The meeting resolved that the ANC and its coalition partners must treat each other with respect and stop using motions of no confidence as a form of punishment when there are disagreements.
Gwamanda formally withdrew the motion of no confidence on Tuesday at a council meeting.
“Madam speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to indicate as well as register with council that an approach was adopted, and I am grateful that the executive mayor felt it necessary to take it upon himself to engage the affected parties, who then took a decision.
“Madam speaker, we did have a window of opportunity to address the critical concerns with regard to service delivery, but unfortunately, at the time, the executive mayor was unavailable, and when he was, he demonstrated that when you need something done correctly, you need to do it yourself.
“I would like to thank the PA, ATM, as well as the APC because those political parties helped us reach a resolution as the political management committee to ultimately withdraw this particular motion,” he said.
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ANC withdraws other motions
Following the withdrawal of this motion against Morero. Other government of local unity councillors withdrew their motions against the three councillors who had brought forward a motion of no confidence against Morero.
These motions were against Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad, who is also a former mayor in Johannesburg, the UDM’s Yongama Zigebe and the ATM’s Lubalalo Magwetshu. They are chairpersons of various section 79 committees.
The ANC councillors who withdrew these motions warned the trio that they were only doing so because of the agreements made. One of them said, “This does not mean we have forgotten.”
Meanwhile, Morero gave a speech at the opening of the council, praising the work that the City of Johannesburg had done in ensuring that last week’s G20 summit became a success.
“We are continuing with high-impact service delivery beyond the G20; we will continue to give services to our people [and] ensure that we deal with all service delivery failures that we are faced with,” he said.
SA-US relations
Morero also used his speech to hit back at the Trump administration, which has sought to undermine South Africa’s G20 presidency.
South Africa has been at pains trying to reset relations with the US government, but despite this, their efforts seem to be failing as Donald Trump continues with his negative attitude towards South Africa.
“The American people do not agree with the arrogance of their president, who does not represent anything except representing an idea of those who seek to undermine the progress of building a better world,” he said.
Morero will now face his last hurdle: the ANC regional elective conference, which begins on Wednesday in Woodmead, North of Johannesburg.
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