Get your affairs in order or I will intervene, David Makhura warns metros

Gauteng premier David Makhura on Tuesday signalled he was ready to step in over the mayoral disruption in the Tshwane and Johannesburg metros.

“Should the city of Johannesburg fail to elect a mayor on Wednesday, December 4 ... the provincial government will intervene decisively,” he said. “We will not allow political games on matters that fundamentally affect the lives of millions of Gauteng residents. It is time for swift and decisive action where there is governance or service delivery failure.”

The post has been vacant since Herman Mashaba resigned at the end of November. A scheduled vote for the council to elect the new mayor on November 28 was postponed to this week.

Makhura said he wanted the mayoral vote to take place on Wednesday and the new mayoral committee to be in place before December 15.

He was also “deeply concerned" about what was taking place in Tshwane.

“There is administration and governance chaos in the city and all surveys point to the fact that service delivery has taken a deep knock and residents are suffering. There is total mismanagement of the city, which has eroded public confidence. The provincial government will not sit back and watch while people suffer as a result of mismanagement and maladministration,” said Makhura.

He said he had asked human settlements MEC Lebogang Maile to submit a full report on  Tshwane, covering finances, service delivery, governance and administration, “including the fresh allegations of corruption, as well as matters pertaining to what the situation is regarding the status of the mayor”.

The DA last month appointed Abel Tau as acting mayor of Tshwane, after mayor Stevens Mokgalapa was put on special leave.

TimesLIVE reported that Mokgalapa made headlines when an audio recording, purportedly of him and transport MMC Stella Senkubuge having a discussion, went public. In the 30-minute clip, reportedly recorded in Senkubuge's Hatfield office, two voices can be heard discussing which government officials to fire. The pair also talked about former mayor Solly Msimanga's policies, describing them as “stupid”.

Mokgalapa and Senkubuge say the intimate part of the recording, in which an alleged relationship between them is discussed, was doctored. They have laid charges of invasion of privacy and blackmail against unknown individuals at the Brooklyn police station.