After a failed motion of no confidence vote, Dada Morero lives to fight another day as mayor of Johannesburg.
But anyone who is celebrating does not have the city's best interests at heart.
After 10 months in the hot seat, Morero on Wednesday sailed through his first coup attempt, surviving by a comfortable margin of 75 votes to 144. This was despite the ANC's part-time bedfellow Action SA abstaining from voting, saying it could not in good conscience bring itself to “defend” the mayor.
No doubt there will be more motions to come in the future, but for now we will not be saying ta-ta to Dada. And that is unfortunate because at a time when Johannesburg is sliding into decay, his leadership has not been memorable. Other than floating a bizarre plan of musical chairs for MMCs Morero has not made any bold, sweeping moves to get Joburg back on track.
Not that we should be surprised, given his comments days into his mayorship that residents should not expect any major improvements before the 2026 municipal elections. No-one could ever accuse Morero of being an overachiever, but while it is true that Rome wasn't built in a day, it is not unrealistic to expect some meaningful changes to have been made since his appointment.
Potholes, street lights and traffic lights would be a good start. Overgrown curbs and parks, litter, lawless drivers are also low-hanging fruit while the city works towards a solution to the more challenging issues of ageing water and power infrastructure, investment and growth.
Government coalitions are by nature tricky and can often stymie service delivery. Johannesburg has been hamstrung by coalitions since 2016. These partnerships have put political posturing ahead of action and brought us lame duck mayors such as Thapelo Ahmed and Kabelo Gwamanda. And while residents were slow-boiling frogs for a while, the impact of these coalitions is now glaringly clear to anyone who lives in or visits the city.
At most, Morero has a year to change the city's trajectory. It is a huge task, and one that Morero has given no indication he is capable of
As Joburg prepares to host the G20 summit in November, our leader's grand plan was to “prioritise G20 routes” for repairs in a bid to create the illusion to international delegates that our pumpkin was a glass carriage. No wonder President Cyril Ramaphosa resorted to an intervention team to help drive a turnaround plan.
With local elections around the corner, time is running out for the city's incumbents to convince residents they are capable of saving the fast-fading economic powerhouse of Africa.
So far, they have not instilled any confidence and fed-up Joburgers, who have had to endure ongoing water cuts, unplanned power outages, a growing plague of potholes, deadly intersections with no working traffic lights, and many other frustrations, will be merciless at the polls.
At most, Morero has a year to change the city's trajectory. It is a huge task, and one that Morero has given no indication he is capable of.
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