Coalition politics edged past toxic heights on Friday, when in a shocking but expected turn of events, an Al-Jamah party member, this time Kabelo Gwamanda, returned to the helm as mayor of Johannesburg.
Kabelo Gwamanda is the new Joburg mayor
As reported by Sowetan, Gwamanda secured the vacancy with 139 votes, well ahead of ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni, who only managed to secure 59 ballots, about nine votes shy of Mpho Phalatse‘s unsuccessful re-election bid.
With the backing of the ANC and EFF‘s mammoth influence over the City of Joburg council, Gwamanda was sworn-in and he wasted no further time in spewing the propaganda cooked up by his handlers, who, at this point, appeared desperate to gatekeep the mayoral position from other coalition groups.
“[The Joburg mayoral position] is not a mere title of glamour, prestige, celebrity status that most of us like to believe. Service delivery is a competency of local government and ours as the Government of Local Unity is to respect you enough to commit to a level of service delivery for all 6 million (residents),” he said.
Much like his predecessor and fellow party comrade, Thapelo Amad, not much is known about Gwamanda. Records of his past leadership are bare and once again, it appears Joburg residents were shorted by their public representatives for short-sighted political plays.
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In late April 2023, Amad bowed out of the mayoral post after three months. While the Al-Jamah leader stressed his decision to leave was less about internal pressure from a shaken coalition and more “about the bigger picture,” his early track record of embarrassing moments hinted heavily at his ineptitude.
Here’s how social media reacted to Kabelo Gwamanda’s election as Joburg mayor:
