News24.com | FRIDAY BRIEFING | Joburg's mayoral go-round (Apologies if you wanted service delivery)

Joburg's mayoral go-round (Apologies if you wanted service delivery)

I recently read a blog where the writer lamented whether they were falling out of love with Johannesburg. 

Many living in the city will understand where the writer is coming from. 

Things just feel broken, and it has felt like this for a long time. Traffic lights, even when there isn't load shedding, don't work. Potholes grow larger and larger. It is difficult to navigate the roads, as there are no lines marking out the lanes. Every now and again there is just no water, as infrastructure fails. Rubbish is sometimes not picked up. 

It's hard to pinpoint when Joburg started to feel like a slum, but a starting point could be 2016, when things started to change, thanks to the local government elections. The ANC lost control of the city, and we got introduced to coalition politics.

Initially, things were relatively stable under a coalition agreement led by then DA mayor Herman Mashaba. 

Then, in 2019, Mashaba resigned as mayor, and left the DA. Following his exit, the city had several mayors in the lead up to the 2021 local elections after one died of Covid, and another died in a car accident. 

The mayoral merry-go-round really got into full swing, though, after the 2021 elections, as coalition politics fully kicked in, with no party appearing to want to put stability of the metro before their own interests. In just 18 months - the city has seen the mayorship change four times.

The DA's Mpho Phalatse was the first to take the hot seat in 2021, but after a year was replaced by Dada Morero due to power oscillating between an ANC-led coalition and a DA-backed coalition.  

We had hardly learnt Morero's name when Phalatse returned, thanks to the court ruling in her favour. Before she could get too comfortable, however, another motion of no confidence saw her replaced by Al Jamah-ah candidate, Thapelo Amad, through a ANC-EFF deal. 

Amad lasted just three months before hanging up the mayoral chains following his resignation.

On Friday, the city is expected to welcome mayor number five.

And we are not even done with this term yet before the next local government elections. It is no surprise that voters are opting out of this circus. 

In this week's Friday Briefing, Professor Susan Booysen, of the Mapungubwe Institute of Strategic Reflection, reflects how past, present and unfolding strategic party actions demonstrate how municipal coalition practice is used as a wind tunnel to test provincial and national coalition futures. 

News24's politics reporter, Zintle Mahlati, who has covered the coalition mishaps in Johannesburg, examines the fault lines in the ANC-EFF alliance. 

Finally, News24's in-depth writer Muhammad Hussain speaks to University of Johannesburg's Professor Siphamandla Zondi about  how quick-fix coalitions that constantly collapse erode citizens' trust in public institutions, and impact service delivery.

Here's to the City of Johannesburg's next mayor lasting longer than three months. 

Best, 

Vanessa Banton 

Opinions editor.