By Nellie Peyton
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Johannesburg elected a new mayor on Friday, the seventh in three years to lead South Africa’s biggest city as residents complain of worsening crime and basic services.
Dada Morero, of the African National Congress, was elected after his predecessor Kabelo Gwamanda resigned under pressure.
Johannesburg’s governance has been defined by shifting coalition politics in recent years as no party holds a majority in the city council. Morero was elected by an ANC-led coalition including Action SA and a host of smaller parties.
Gwamanda, from the Al Jama-ah party which has three of 270 seats in the council, was chosen last year as a compromise between the ANC and its biggest coalition partner at the time, the Economic Freedom Fighters.
Civil society groups say the political instability has contributed to a deterioration in everything from water to electricity to road maintenance.
“There’s no coherence in policy,” said Neeshan Balton, executive director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and a co-convenor of the Joburg Crisis Alliance, a civil society platform.
“Each and every (mayor) runs their portfolio as their own personal fiefdom,” he told Reuters.
The alliance held a protest last month calling for Gwamanda’s resignation. Gwamanda has defended his record, saying in a statement he “managed to place good governance on course”.
Johannesburg, a city of around 6 million people, is home to both shiny shopping malls and luxury office suites in its financial district Sandton, dubbed “Africa’s richest square mile”, and rubbish-strewn downtown areas where entire apartment blocks are run by gangs.
Most South African companies are headquartered in Johannesburg, and the city generates around 15% of the country’s economic output, according to government estimates.
The ANC is seeking to stabilise the municipality after it identified poor service delivery in metropolitan areas as one of the reasons it lost its majority in May’s national election.
“Part of what the ANC is going to do now is to focus very seriously on the local government sphere. And we’re starting in Johannesburg,” party spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi told a news briefing last week.
Morero already served as mayor for 25 days in 2022 before his predecessor was reinstated by court order.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton,; Additional reporting by Tannur Anders,; Editing by Alexander Winning and Angus MacSwan)
