By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Johannesburg on Friday elected a new mayor, the seventh in three years to lead South Africa’s biggest city.
The emergence of Dada Morero, a chieftain of the governing African National Congress (ANC) as the new mayor comes amidst complain by residents over worsening crime rate and decline in state of basic services.
He succeeds his predecessor Kabelo Gwamanda who 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.
The former mayor, from the Al Jama-ah party which has three of 270 seats in the council, was chosen last year after an understanding 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,” Reuters news quoted Neeshan Balton, executive director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and a co-convenor of the Joburg Crisis Alliance, a civil society platform as saying.
“Each and every (mayor) runs their portfolio as their own personal fiefdom,” he stated.
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”.
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.
