By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The City of Johannesburg has agreed to loan of R2.5 billion from the French Development Agency (AFD) after council passed a resolution to approve the loan.
The loan has been at the centre of controversy for several weeks. It was rejected at a previous council meeting earlier this month.
The loan was initially turned down because Joburg Finance MMC Dada Morero did not provide key details on what the loan was for and its conditions.
ActionSA voted with the African National Congress (ANC) and African Independent Congress (AIC), African Transformation Movement (ATM), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Democratic Alliance in passing a resolution to approve the loan. The Good Party and Freedom Front Plus voted against it.
ActionSA has since resolved to work and vote with the ANC on certain matters. Its leader Herman Mashaba said this was necessary to prevent the municipality from collapsing.
The cost of the loan was also raised as a serious concern, but Morero said without it the city faced a potential R2 billion shortfall.
DA Caucus Leader councillor Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the party now agreed with the loan after “all the requisite information” was given “for the council to make an informed decision”.
“We note the city’s revenue enhancement efforts through the war room and also the monitoring that will be done by the Provincial Treasury on debt collection from Government departments and SOE’S who owe the City millions.
“This will greatly assist the City to honour its financial obligations under the strained circumstances.”
Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the DA had written to the Minister of Finance, National Treasury & the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) to help monitor the loan’s use.
Meanwhile executive mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is expected to resign from his influential position — marking the 10th time political power has changed hands in the metro since 2016.
Calls for Gwamanda to step down had been increasing with opposition councillors arguing he is not suitably qualified to lead the country’s economic hub, which contributes almost 20% to national GDP and about 40% to Gauteng’s economy.
His election in June 2023 marked the sixth time political power had changed hands in the metro since 2021. Twelve days into his tenure as mayor last year, labour federation Cosatu called on Gwamanda to step down and be replaced by a “capable mayor” as a matter of urgency with a “collective vision of advancing the city”.
Gwamanda’s imminent departure comes after the introduction of a bill for public comment in May by Thembi Nkadimeng, the former co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister, which seeks to rein in local government instability by making it difficult to remove executive mayors, speakers and chief whips.
Gwamanda, from the Al Jama-ah party — which holds three seats in the 270-seat council — is the ninth mayor of Joburg since the 2016 local government election. The past mayors of the metro include Parks Tau (2016), Herman Mashaba (2016-19), Geoff Makhubo (2020-21), Mpho Moerane (2021), Jolidee Matongo (2021), Mpho Phalatse (2021-22), Dada Morero (2022) and Thapelo Amad (2023).
Al Jama-ah said that Gwamanda has no intention of resigning and still has the backing of GLU partners, the EFF and PA.
This would mean that if the ANC wants to see Gwamanda out, they are going to have to initiate a motion of no confidence against him and rely on the support of parties who do not make up the city’s GLU.
Meanwhile the Joburg Crisis Alliance (JCA) has amplified its call for Gwamanda, and his entire mayoral committee, to resign.
Speaking at a press briefing at Constitutional Hill on Thursday various civic organisations under the alliance lamented deteriorating infrastructure, poor service delivery, maladministration, and corruption as just some of the consequences of poor leadership in the metro.
The JCA has called on residents to join them on Saturday for a demonstration outside the Metro Centre in Braamfontein.
Reading from their statement, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s Neeshan Balton listed some of their demands: “The resignation of the Executive Mayor and the Mayoral Committee; a review of the recent pre-paid electricity tariffs; an end to unplanned water cuts and emergency water provision to under-serviced communities; an end to unplanned electricity load reduction; decisive and consistent measures in combatting corruption and protecting whistle-blowers; and investigators; and open, transparent and proper consultation with civil society, business and labour in the governance of the city.”
Despite recent revelations that the ANC, which helped put Gwamanda into the Mayoral seat, the alliance is adamant calls for Gwamanda’s removal are not politically motivated.
Tessa Dooms from Rivonia Circle, one of six organizations planning the demonstration under the alliance, says they are not campaigning for any successor from any of the political parties.
“They [councillors] have all the power to choose the best person amongst them, and the best mayco to lead. They can make rational decisions based on people’s actual competence, and they can make a case to us as residents that these people are the best people to lead.
“But either way the point is that if those people don’t lead, even if someone else comes in, our job is to mete out political consequences. There must be political consequences.”
Alliance says it is yet to hear from President Cyril Ramaphosa after it wrote to him to raise concern over the state of governance and service delivery in the country’s economic hub.
While the ANC in the province is said to be in talks with opposition party Action SA to seal Gwamanda’s removal, there’s been little comment from the ANC-led provincial government.