The race towards the November local government elections has begun, with political parties intensifying activity through motions of no confidence and ActionSA merger announcements .
Less than 30 days into the new year, two Gauteng mayors, Johannesburg’s Dada Morero and Sedibeng’s Lerato Makola, are facing motions of no confidence, reflecting continued political instability in local government, according to political analysts.
Political analyst Sandile Swana said the developments should be viewed within the context of election preparations rather than expectations of immediate governance changes.
“There is obviously what we call jostling for political positions. Many parties are starting to want to make their presence felt,” Swana told Sowetan.
Morero and Makola are facing motions sponsored by Al Jama-ah and PAC respectively.
In the motion sponsored by Al Jamah’s Kabelo Gwamanda and seconded by the UDM, the party argued Morero has failed to provide decisive leadership amid ongoing service delivery failures affecting residents across the city. This comes months after Morero survived a motion by the same party.
The PAC’s Busang Tsotesti, Makola’s motion proposer, argued the motion is submitted as a substantive motion concerning matters of governance, accountability, financial management and the exercise of executive authority.
“Council records the executive mayor has, through a pattern of conduct, failed to discharge her constitutional, statutory and ethical obligations, thereby undermining council the administration, and the residents of Sedibeng district municipality,” the notice dated January 21 reads
Swana said removing mayors ahead of elections is often about visibility rather than service delivery outcomes.
“If you remove the mayor of Johannesburg or Sedibeng, removing them is all that can be done if parties are even lucky enough to succeed. This is to try and use the platform of mayorship to promote self and political parties,” he said.
Swana added that any leadership changes at this stage are unlikely to have a meaningful impact on residents’ daily lives before elections take place.
“Not so much can change the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens in the next 10 months since the election is supposed to be in November. We must look at this as posturing,” he said.
The motions of no confidence come as ActionSA announced it will merge with several smaller parties, including the Azanian Independent Community Movement and the Creative Congress Movement.
Swana said the timing of the announcement was expected.
“The issue of ActionSA, we should have anticipated it closer to the election and their legal reasons as to why closer to the election,” he said.
Swana explained announcing the merger earlier could have triggered by-elections as members had been operationally aligned but legally unable to change their affiliation.
“There will be big questions, one of them being who are their candidates in the City of Johannesburg, which is the biggest piece on the political chessboard,” he said.
Political analyst Prof Mcebisi Ndletyana, said instability in local government is not a new phenomenon linked only to upcoming elections.
“Political instability has been there since 2021. It will not only happen now because of the upcoming local elections,” Ndletyana said.
He said coalition governments have struggled due to the absence of outright majority parties.
“The instability in local government and coalitions has long existed because of lack of majority parties. The instability is causing service delivery issues and a lot of voters are unhappy,” he said.
Sowetan
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