NATASHA MARRIAN: New Joburg mayor loading?

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero is a study in languishing incompetence. What is worse, he openly said he would be useless shortly after his appointment, yet even his own party ignored the warning.

It is tragic that he remains in the post, given the state of the city, which contributes about 15% to the country’s GDP and employs 12% of the national workforce. 

This may not be for much longer — there are moves afoot to axe him. Business Day understands he is likely to be replaced after top ANC leaders agreed he should be removed in favour of an eThekwini-style intervention for the city, but despite the decision having been taken three weeks ago, it has not yet been implemented.

Johannesburg’s problems are painfully obvious to residents, from the streets of Saxonwold to Alexandra, Kensington to Diepsloot, Newlands, Hillbrow and Soweto. The complaints are essentially the same: crumbling infrastructure, no water, potholes, erratic refuse collection, vandalism, hijacked buildings, little to no maintenance of dilapidated municipal infrastructure.

The city owes Eskom billions, and its financial reserves are drying up fast. It is drowning in debt and its revenue collection woes have worsened. It’s a mess — hardly the best foot to put forward when the country welcomes the world to the G20 summit in November. 

This week President Cyril Ramaphosa descended from the capital in Tshwane to express the obvious, that the city was in a bad state: “The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment.” He was speaking after experiencing the city first hand when he attended a number of G20 meetings in recent weeks, which apparently left a bitter taste. Welcome, Mr President, to the lived experience of Joburg residents.  

For his part, Morero never promised much. Shortly after taking office he immediately sought to temper expectations that he would be able to shift the putrescent status quo in the erstwhile City of Gold.

“Remember, we won’t be able to do everything in the next two years,” he told journalist Alex Patrick in August last year. Morero put his foot in it again in an internal ANC meeting when he said foreign nationals should be recruited to the Johannesburg metropolitan police. After a public outcry over his leaked comments in the meeting, he backtracked. 

This week, addressing the launch of the government leg of the G20 summit, he said his administration would prioritise fixing routes to be used during the visit by foreign dignitaries for the G20 summit, leaving residents fuming that their plight will continue to be ignored in favour of visiting bigwigs. He walked back the comments later in an interview with 702’s Clement Manyathela. 

It is clear that Morero, with his executive, are out of their collective depth. An urgent intervention is needed to rescue the city. The eThekwini experience, while not perfect, is instructive. Weeks after the 2024 election result was announced — a disaster for the ANC, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal — the new government of provincial unity (IFP, ANC, DA and NFP) intervened in the collapsing city using section 154 of the constitution. This legally enabled national government to intervene in Durban to provide support for the ailing council. 

Less than a month later the ANC replaced controversial eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda with Cyril Xaba, a respected, competent and lifelong party man. Kaunda’s tenure had been a disaster for the ANC — he will be remembered for his swims in sewage-infested Durban beaches as he sought to score political points. Xaba, with the national government, quietly got to work. Crucially, the section 154 team was led by former city manager Mike Sutcliffe (harking back to a time when the city was well run) and former director-general in the presidency Cassius Lubisi. 

While not yet perfect, insiders say there is a marked difference in eThekwini after the severe service delivery failures there before the intervention. Sutcliffe and Lubisi head a working group that assists in various areas, including finances. 

Last week, the ANC announced that former Johannesburg city manager and ANC veteran Trevor Fowler is set to head a local government team to look into the state of municipalities in Gauteng. It is understood that there is already buy-in from a number of opposition parties to replace Morero.

Putting the eThekwini model in place in Johannesburg would include appointing a new mayor. While the plan is ready, the problem is Ramaphosa’s usual glacial pace of getting things done. Yet if ever there was a time to move with speed, it is now — not solely for the sake of the G20, but for the long-suffering residents of Johannesburg. 

• Marrian is Business Day editor-at-large.