Only Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi can tell the mayor of Johannesburg to resign, says Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks, whose deployee mayor Kabelo Gwamanda could face the chop in the coming days.
Hendricks was speaking to TimesLIVE on Monday as the ANC’s top officials were expected to discuss the City of Johannesburg in their weekly meeting. The top ANC officials are expected to receive an update on the Johannesburg metro from the head of the coalition task team David Makhura.
ANC acting spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi said the officials will discuss urgent interventions to stabilise local government, including Johannesburg.
The Johannesburg regional executive committee will also meet on Monday to rubber stamp Dada Morero as its preferred candidate to take over from Gwamanda.
ANC regional secretary Sasabona Manganye confirmed a meeting would take place on Monday, saying while not predicting the outcomes, he believed it made sense to have Morero as the mayoral candidate. Manganye said he was certain Gwamanda would resign and a new mayor sworn in by the end of the week.
A special council meeting is expected to take place on Wednesday.
The ANC has been meeting different political parties in the Johannesburg council to ensure it has a stable coalition should it take over the city. The party is said to have also attempted to woo the Freedom Front Plus, formerly a strong ally of the DA.
ActionSA, another DA ally, is also in talks with the ANC to cogovern in the metro.
While the ANC has been preparing to take over the government of local unity, Hendricks said so far no communication had been made for Gwamanda to resign.
“Al Jama-ah is a political party that works with the ANC. If the ANC comes to us and tells us it has consulted the nine political parties in the coalition and they want to make a change we are not going to stand in their way,” Hendricks said.
I wrote a letter to the ANC to say, 'you may approach us to ask for an exit strategy which may mean that he has to resign'. We can do it when the dust has settled.
— Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks
He added the ANC had reassured him it would not support a motion of no confidence in Gwamanda.
“I wrote a letter to the ANC to say, 'you may approach us to ask for an exit strategy which may mean he has to resign'. We can do it when the dust has settled. To do it now would mean the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation will get its way, the political campaign sponsored by ActionSA and the regional executive committee of the ANC will succeed and Gwamanda will leave the city under a cloud that he is incompetent which is unfair and not true. They haven't told us [to resign].” Hendricks said he relayed his concerns to the ANC national leaders including its deputy president Paul Mashatile.
“The ANC feels they have rewarded Al Jama-ah for being loyal over the past 15 years. We helped them in Escort, Harding, Umgeni and Durban and we have never asked them for any position in return.
“We have the ear of the national leadership and the deputy president. We have the support of the premier. It's the premier who asked me to lead, it is the premier that will on behalf of the ANC [say] please can we talk about the exit strategy,” he said, adding Gwamanda will only resign if the decision is approved by the nine parties in the city’s coalition arrangement.
Hendricks accused Manganye of usurping powers from Gwamanda.
He said the ANC’s regional executive wants to replace the political committee of the government of local unity.
“The regional committee just wants power. There is an election coming in two years. They are punching above their weight. They want to rule and not allow the political committee to run the city. The regional committee secretary thinks he is the president of the country.”
Hendricks said he did not believe Morero was the best candidate to take over as mayor, adding Gwamanda had done his best to limit the damage caused by the ANC, the DA and ActionSA governments.
He credited Gwamanda for the R2.5bn loan from a French government entity, claiming that showed big business has confidence in the mayor.
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