Following the resignation of Kabelo Gwamanda, the African National Congress’s Dada Morero has been elected the mayor of Johannesburg – again.
In a lengthy council meeting at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein on Friday, August 16, Dada Morero was voted in as the newest Mayor of Johannesburg.
This follows the resignation of Al Jama-ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda, who was increasingly unpopular among city residents who were unsatisfied with his leadership.
Morero received 189 votes. His only competition, Democratic Alliance caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, garnered 60 votes, well below the necessary 135 votes needed. This will be Morero’s second stint as the city’s mayor. He was in the role for just 25 days in 2022, squished between the two tenures of the DA’s Mpho Phalatse.
Dada Morero with Kabelo Gwamanda and Thapelo Amad. Photo: Kabir Jugram.
Morero will be Joburg’s fifth Mayor since the 2021 local government elections. The rotating door of mayors has been detrimental to the governance of the city, stalling crucial infrastructure and repair projects.
Since the 2021 local government elections, the opening of a R588-million Forensic Pathology Services lab has been pushed back and delayed numerous times. The last deadline set, June 30, 2024, has also been missed.
Nonetheless, in his acceptance speech, Morero promised Joburg will become a “construction site” and a place of growth after years of neglect and mismanagement.
Morero ended his speech by announcing his lineup of mayoral committee members, surprisingly including Speaker of the House, Margaret Arnolds. She has resigned from her position to take up her new office as MMC of Group Finance.
The only other change made was the appointment of ex-Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda as the new MMC of Community Development.
Morero seemed certain in his speech that his tenure as Mayor would last until 2026, when the next local government elections will occur. While a hopeful message and certainly one reflective of Morero’s positive attitude, the statistics on Joburg Mayors do not inspire confidence.
FEATURED IMAGE: Dada Morero giving his inauguration speech.Photo: Kabir Jugram.
South Africa is proud of its hard-won democracy – and yet some South African citizens would dispense with it, in exchange for better services. Can a state be called a democracy if no one believes in it?
In many nations worldwide, democracy is the only game in town. So entrenched are democratic values in their systems that it seems impossible to consider an alternate form of government.
And yet in South Africa, a relatively young democracy, 72% of citizens would be willing to forgo elections if a non-elected government could provide employment, housing, and security.
Unemployment, followed by crime, electricity, water supply, and corruption are considered the most pressing issues facing South Africans – all of which have been promised to be fixed, but not delivered on for the last thirty years.
People are clearly drawing a link between failing public services and the (dis)functionality of democracy. This is amplified by the fact that, according to the same Afrobarometer survey, 63% of South Africans do not feel close to any political party.
According to these facts, most South Africans do not feel represented by their politicians, nor do they feel served by them. This is unsurprising to anyone who has been paying attention to local politics in the last few years.
In the 2024 national elections, South Africans showed their disillusionment with democracy, with over 11 million voters not bothering to vote and an all-time low voter turnout. These sad statistics point to a decline in the belief that voting makes any difference.
I can’t fault anyone for assuming the democratic system is the issue. One of the supposedly most democratic countries on earth, The United States, consistently silences the voices of its citizens by manipulating voter districts, filibustering the senate to stall popular bills being passed, and allowing Super PACS to fund election campaigns with dark money.
How can anyone be expected to believe in democracy if this is one of its most ‘prime’ examples?
While I’m aware of our democratic government’s numerous failings, I still believe in democracy. This is because what most people understand democracy to be is a watered down, exploited version of its true form.
Many liberal democracies today are bogged down by bureaucratic processes and swayed by the power of corporate interests. These systems, with their dysfunctionality and inequality, should not be looked to as examples of ‘real’ democracy.
According to Helende Landemore, real democracy—democracy that actually delivers on its aims—emerges by bringing popular deliberation and crowd wisdom into the political realm. It only functions through popular participation, and is fashioned by the majority, not from the top-down.
In an unequal country such as South Africa, ‘real’ democracy then faces the hurdle of an all-powerful minority and a disenfranchised majority. However, this sort of democracy does exist on the outer edges of our society, in grassroots organizations and local politics.
In his book, Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements, Trevor Ngwane sheds light on the direct, non-hierarchical forms of democracy that exist in shack settlements across the country.
Community groups come together to provide for and defend their members, become self-sufficient, and focus on social development on their own terms. Ngwane calls this “democracy on the margins,” but emphasizes it could come to serve all of us in society.
Would more South Africans believe in democracy if ours functioned differently? I certainly hope so. It is South Africa’s overall lack of development that gives democracy a bad name, not the system itself.
So, while South Africa and other countries continue to call themselves true democracies, it is imperative to remember that some democracies are more equal than others, and that only we should ever hold the power to decide our futures.
FEATURED IMAGE: Ruby Delahunt. Photo: Leon Sadiki.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says lifestyle audits are “underway firmly” and dismisses the “fable” of government inaction on Zondo Commission findings.
“Rule of law, due process, and good governance” – these were the well-worn words of Ramaphosa in Parliament on Tuesday, March 19 – in what could be his last parliamentary Q&A session. Land reform, lifestyle audits and state capture are some of the issues discussed in the two hour sitting.
With just seventy days before national elections, the session was filled with politicking and electioneering, which made for an animated sitting. Members of parliament posed six main questions to Ramaphosa, with four supplementary questions allowed for each.
Lifestyle audits
Upon question, the President stated that lifestyle audits for the Executive are underway after years of delays due to budget issues and changes in service providers. The process will now be handled by the Director-General in the Presidency, Phindile Baleni. Now that it is in the right hands, the President promises that the project will pick up speed.
Democratic Alliance leader, John Steenhuisen, linked the early morning raid of the speaker of parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, to the delayed audits, first promised in 2018. “Your failure to implement lifestyle audits is what has facilitated this alleged corruption by the speaker,” Steenhuisen said.
According to the 2021 Guide on Lifestyle Audits, an employee’s lifestyle will be measured against their income for an accurate snapshot of their financial position.
Ramaphosa went on to discuss the state capture report, calling the allegations that nothing is being done to act on the findings of the Zondo Commission, a “continuous fable.” He said the findings “are currently receiving attention from a number of law enforcement agencies and other bodies”.
Members of parliament asked about the money (around R86-billion at last count) recovered from corrupt dealings linked to state capture. The President said some of this money from the Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA) should be used to further the recovery process.
Dealing with wrongdoers
While parliament delved into the recent suspension of Deputy Minister for Small Business Development, Dipuo Peters, DA leader John Steenhuisen once again brought the conversation back to the raid on Mapisa-Nqakula’s home and demanded that Ramaphosa remove her from office due to the corruption allegations against her. The acting speaker of the house, ANC member Cedric Frolick, dismissed the point as irrelevant and allowed the session to continue without a response from the President.
This occurred just two days before the official implication of Mapisa-Nqakula in the R2.3-million corruption scandal from her time as Defense Minister that warranted the raid on her home. The speaker has since announced she will take special leave from office and has filed court papers to try and halt her arrest.
While the speaker remains on special leave to prepare to “defend herself against these allegations,” the DA has pushed for a motion of no-confidence in the speaker to formally oust her, while the Presidency has simply said “the process must now unfold” as facts arise.
With elections only two months away, it is no surprise that the session was packed with political grandstanding and insults hurled across the benches, but it made for a less than informative session on the actual practical aspects of the questions raised. Come May 29, we shall see what voters took away from this sitting – if anything at all.
FEATURED IMAGE: President Cyril Ramaphosa answering questions in parliament on 19 March 2024. Photo: GCIS/Supplied.
South Africans should see through fearmongering by politicians and the idea that a single person or party will save the country.
Voters must vote for values such as justice and solidarity, rather than pledging loyalty to one person or party in the 2024 general elections, in order to progress as a country.
This was the take-home message from panellists at a discussion titled “Where to from here… The state of South Africa” at the Kingsmead Book Fair on May 27.
The discussion was witnessed by a packed school hall of potential voters and facilitated by economist and futurist, Bronwyn Williams. Journalist and political commentator Justice Malala, Wits media studies associate professor Nicky Falkof and journalist-turned-politician Songezo Zibi, made up the panel which critically unpacked issues including fear among the citizenry and the messiah complex – the idea that a single person or party will be the saviour for the country.
Wits professor Nicky Falkof and journalist Justice Malala listen to questions from the audience at the Kingsmead Book Fair on May 27. Photo: Seth Thorne
Author of The Plot to Save South Africa, Malala discussed the idea that good leadership can get a country through the worst of times. He used the example of Nelson Mandela stepping up when the country was at the brink of a civil war in April 1993 following the death of ANC leader Chris Hani. A “messiah” did come forward in the shape of Mandela to shape the country’s political landscape.
Malala argued that this worked because Mandela was driven by the desire to create a prosperous country, rather than a desire for power – whereas the current leadership’s interests are rooted in political power and it lacks the will and understanding to fix the country’s problems.
Associate professor Nicky Falkof – who described politics as being mostly driven by emotion – said that legitimate fears of violence in the country were politicised, resulting in a culture and narrative of fear which impacted race, class and gender.
She used an example unpacked in her book, Worrier State: Risk, anxiety and moral panic in South Africa, that violence is a threat in South Africa, however, violence with white victims (who are a minority) dominates the media landscape and is presented as more gruesome than other crimes. Calling this the contemporary myth of “white genocide”, Falkof said, “The white far right has tried to convince people that the deaths of white people are far more brutal than those of anyone else.”
This creates panic among communities in an already fearful country and politicians use this legitimate fear to mobilise support by running fearmongering campaigns claiming that only they can solve an issue that has been blown out of proportion and context.
Author of Manifesto: A New Vision for South AfricaSongezoZibi said that the country’s political and legislative systems were “fundamentally faulty”, however, blaming the ANC was “the easy answer [whereas] we have serious structural problems that brought us here”.
A major structural problem is the electoral system wherein constituents do not know who their representatives are. Party members are sent to legislatures and given powerful positions based on their connections to a person or party, rather than sent by their communities to represent their voices in decision-making processes.
“[This undermines the] value of the culture of democratic participation” leaving representatives disconnected from civil society and vice-versa, said Zibi.
The public’s interests have become lost in this disconnection between representatives and society, because the electoral system that was adopted in 1994 “created a block of faceless individuals” that the government overlooks and calls “our people”, said Zibi.
The discussion was concluded with a few questions from the audience. With the questions all relating government shortcomings, such as electricity and education, the panelists all stressed the importance of changing the poor voter turnout in the country, and emphasised that the only way for the country to progress would be to vote those inhibiting it out of power.
FEATURED: Journalist-turned-politician Songezo Zibi makes a point at the Kingsmead Book Fair on May 27. Photo: Seth Thorne
In a time where coalitions are the new reality for South Africa, will young leaders have the upper hand in next year’s national elections?
If the rollercoaster coalitions at municipal level over the past couple of years are a trailer for 2024’s national scramble, then we are in for a crazy ride with new key players emerging.
The 2024 national election is going to be an interesting one in South African politics – especially for the country’s youth. With an unemployment rate of 63,9% for those aged 15 to 24, and 42,1% for those between ages 25 and 34, things are not looking great for the youth – with some becoming fed up with the status quo.
For the first time in our 29-year democracy, the ruling ANC is largely predicted to receive less than 50% of the vote – however, these statistics fluctuate from poll to poll. This has already been the case across various large metropolitan councils, including Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekhuruleni, which has seen the frequent formation and breaking up of coalitions, resulting in unstable government.
We are likely to see this play out at a national level in 2024. Some parties, such as the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA, are already scrambling to form coalition pacts regardless of the outcome of the polls that are still 12 months away.
The question this raises is: what will the youth’s role be in coalition politics next year? Of 43 million eligible voters, 18 million are youth, however, only 10 million or so are registered to vote. As history has shown, the turnout rate may be much lower. In addition statistics show that the lower the voter turnout, the higher the percentage of votes will be for the ANC.
This article is not arguing the importance of the youth going out to vote. (Award-winning legal and development practitioner Karabo Mokgonyana did that very well in a Mail & Guardian article.) Instead, it considers a scenario in which the youth turned out in numbers to vote, and the ANC fell below the 50% threshold to form a government.
Witsies cast their votes in the 2016 local government elections at the East Campus Old Mutual Sports Hall voting station. Photo: File
Would young voters vote for a youth-based agenda, and if so, who would be calling the shots in coalitions? The question is relevant as there has been a flurry of new youth-oriented political movements and parties, while existing parties with young leaders in positions of power such as the EFF are maintaining their relatively large youth support base.
On the other hand, parties such as the DA, are not only losing support in elections, but are losing prominent young leaders such as Phumzile van Damme, Mbali Ntuli, Mmusi Maimane and Bongani Baloyi. The reasons for their departures are varied and complex, but they have also pointed to the disproportionate representation of youth in decision-making structures, which has allowed those in positions of power not only to disregard their needs but to underestimate the will of the youth to do something about it.
In terms of representation in addressing this, of the 446 members of parliament, only 51 (11%) are under the age of 35.
In an interview with Wits Vuvuzela, former DA and ActionSA leader, and now founder and president of Xiluva, Bongani Baloyi,said that he believed that young people would vote for those pushing for a “youth-oriented agenda”. This agenda focuses on prioritising pressing issues affecting the youth, such as unemployment.
“Young people deliver better governance,” said Baloyi who, in 2013 at the age of 26, was voted as mayor of Midvaal municipality, a position he held until November 2021. His tenure was well known for clean governance.
With a large fragmentation of political parties in the country – 696 are registered nationally and 1634 locally – youth-oriented parties can pull support away from established parties with unrelatable leaders for young South Africans and play a crucial role in coalition politics.
With some parties already ruling out the possibility of talks with the ANC and EFF, youth-led parties such as Xiluva, Maimane’s Build One South Africa and Rise Mzansi which was launched by former journalist Songezo Zibi on April 19, can gain the upper hand in coalition talks, and to push “youth-based agendas”.
Thousands of ANC and DA protesters took to the streets of Johannesburg on Wednesday, January 26, blocking roads around Chief Albert Luthuli House.
DA supporters swarmed Gandhi square near Luthuli House while the ANC Youth League marched around the ANC’s headquarters. The former to demand action on loadshedding and the latter to ‘protect’ their party in a counter-protest. Here’s how events unfolded and how the police managed to keep control.
From the Sidelines is a podcast that uncovers the realities of building a career in football journalism, focusing on the ups and downs of breaking into this competitive field. In second episode, we sit down with Mazola Molefe, a highly acclaimed South African sports journalist known for his impactful coverage and respected voice in the […]
