About two weeks ago, the country was informed that representatives of the people in Ekurhuleni had no confidence in the leadership of executive mayor Tania Campbell. She was duly removed.
The same local legislators have voted her in again as the mayor, defeating ANC candidate Jongizizwe Dlabathi.
Ordinary people will be forgiven for thinking: how is it that the same person the council did not have confidence in two weeks ago now enjoys newfound but unexplained confidence from the same people? On the surface, it is mind-boggling politicking meant to achieve nothing.
At another level, though, Campbell is an accidental mayor whose continued stay in power has much to do with battles between the ANC and EFF than any relation to her ability to be a good mayor.
In other words, the political fissures in Gauteng, the country’s economic jewel, have nothing to do with who is best suited to serve the residents well and how service delivery could be improved. It is, in the main, about who will benefit what from newly created voting blocs that enjoy no majority support.
It is not about the best man for the job. The people, on whose behalf politicians govern, are the last considerations, if at all.
Campbell, a member of the DA, survived because the EFF decided to vote for the DA. The ANC, supported by a slew of small parties in Gauteng, had been hoping to remove Campbell and later remove Johannesburg metro mayor Mpho Phalatse, before removing DA mayor Randall Williams in Tshwane — the three metros the ANC has battled to control in Gauteng since 2016.
Speculation was rife that the draft deal between the ANC and EFF was that the ANC would vote for the EFF in Ekurhuleni, making the mayoral office out of reach for Campbell or the DA. The quid pro quo was that the EFF would help the ANC win back Joburg from Phalatse and her DA minority government.
The deadlock was because the ANC felt it could still win Johannesburg without the help of the EFF, but the EFF’s view was that without it, the ANC would not win Ekurhuleni. This explains Tuesday’s punitive vote against the ANC but in favour of the DA, even if it (EFF) is disgruntled with the DA.
It is possible that as and when the ANC and EFF find each other, they table a new motion of no confidence in Campbell. We know it’s easy to have her removed, as we saw two weeks ago.
And so it is that Gauteng politics has become just that — a game of numbers. It is about give and take. It’s transactional. Service delivery is the furthest thing from the minds of those making these deals. It is not about the best man for the job. The people, on whose behalf politicians govern, are the last considerations, if at all.
As Gauteng people struggle to keep up with who the new mayor is in Ekurhuleni, Joburg or Tshwane, and who it might be next week, it is anyone’s guess if waste will be picked up, water provided and streetlight globes replaced. Put differently, politicians are engaged in high-stakes deal-making while ratepayers must just pay for services and hope for the best. It is a shame.
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