ActionSA to abstain in no-confidence vote against Dada Morero

ActionSA, one of the key allies of the ANC in the City of Johannesburg coalition, has announced it will not defend mayor Dada Morero during the motion of no confidence expected to be voted on Wednesday. 

The announcement could be a deathly blow to the coalition led by Morero. The mayor needs 50% plus one vote to withstand the onslaught from the DA, which tabled the motion. 

In an announcement made minutes before the motion would be debated in council, ActionSA Gauteng chair Funzi Ngobeni said the party had met the ANC to convey this decision, adding it was taken with full knowledge that ActionSA’s refusal would probably result in the ANC’s retaliating against the ActionSA speaker in the motion tabled against her. 

“Our decision takes place against the background of ActionSA’s agreement last year to enter the legislature strictly to support the government of local unity on an issue-by-issue basis to prevent the city being held ransom by coalition tensions in other municipalities,” Ngobeni said. 

“In considering ActionSA’s approach to these motions, we remain unequivocal in our view that Morero has failed in his leadership of the City of Johannesburg. Across Johannesburg, service delivery is collapsing. Water and electricity outages have become commonplace, road infrastructure is at its worst and institutions such as City Power are becoming dysfunctional,” Ngobeni said. 

In the 270-seat council the ANC has 89 seats, the EFF 29 and the PA eight. The IFP has seven seats, while various minority parties hold 12.

ActionSA has a 44-seat caucus, which gives the governing coalition a supermajority.

The council will discuss three motions against the troika, with the DA having tabled the motions against Morero and the council chief whip Sthembiso Zungu. The motion against speaker Nobuhle Mthembu from ActionSA is sponsored by the Al Jama-ah party. 

He said Al Jama-ah approached ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba to support the motion against Morero, citing an agreement between Al Jama-ah and the DA to restore Kabelo Gwamanda to leadership in the council should the motion succeed. 

ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said they expected that the speaker would bear the brunt of its decision but warned the ANC would suffer the consequences should it attempt to oust Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya. 

Ngobeni said Morero’s responses to the city’s decline had been unacceptable, taking issue with the mayor’s statements where he said he would prioritise certain routes within Johannesburg for the G20 leaders’ summit.

“ActionSA will not vote to defend this indefensible track record, especially when basic governance matters are being mishandled without consultation. The announcement of the ‘Bomb Squad’ has lacked credibility as a gimmick and the city has failed to recruit senior managers, opting instead for acting arrangements involving questionable characters in perpetuity. 

“Importantly, ActionSA repeatedly insisted that the R230 electricity surcharge must be rescinded,” Ngobeni said.

He said Morero initially agreed to this demand as finance member of the mayoral committee (MMC) but later reneged on that promise as mayor, calling his reversal “unacceptable”. 

ActionSA’s decision to abstain from the motion against the mayor was also informed by the “scheming” approach of the DA.

Ngobeni argued that in its “traditionally arrogant manner”, the DA has failed to engage ActionSA and other parties to communicate what alternative government would replace the Johannesburg coalition if the motion were to succeed. 

“In a city plagued by a revolving door of mayors and instability that has severely impacted its operations, proposing the collapse of the current government without any idea of what might replace it is reckless, as it could easily lead to an even less effective administration. Furthermore, it is also difficult to accept the bona fides of the DA regarding any claim that this motion is anything more than a publicity stunt.

“The idea that the DA’s motion is about saving the residents of Johannesburg lacks all credibility when one considers that it is the DA’s actions that have led to the situation in which Johannesburg now finds itself.”

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