Johannesburg - The battle for the soul of Joburg will take place this weekend in endless meetings where candidates from minority parties will be weighed against each other, with one expected to emerge as the next mayor of the City of Joburg.
The Star understands that the contest for Joburg’s top job is between Al-Jama-ah candidate Kabelo Gwamanda and Cope councillor and speaker of council Colleen Makhubele.
Sources close to the negotiations indicated that the ANC was leaning towards Gwamanda, who has vast experience in the Joburg Municipal Council.
He is also known to be a close ally of the former mayor of the City of Joburg, Thapelo Amad.
African Independent Congress’ (AIC) Margret Arnolds’ name also come up in the mayoral race, but her campaign seemed to lack support from some coalition partners.
Arnolds has been in South African politics since the 1970s. She is known as a human rights activist and is one of the longest-serving members of the Joburg Municipal Council.
Before her political career took off, she studied journalism.
Some in the ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) were rallying behind Makhubele as a suitable candidate. Makhubele was the chairperson of the SA Post Office and has served as a board member for several companies.
She has collected a number of awards and academic accolades over the years, including an Honours degree in IT engineering, an MBA degree and a diploma in project management.
She is currently working on attaining a PhD in management of technology and innovation.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA), who are seen as kingmakers in Joburg Council politics, were responsible for mobilising against the previous mayor. The party said it was advocating for a competent mayor who was fit for purpose.
“According to the coalition agreement, the ANC has the right to put forward a selected candidate from the coalition’s minority parties. We are not opposed to that in principle. However, it became untenable to continue supporting the previous mayor, and we trust that the next candidate will be chosen with capacity and suitability for the role in mind,’’ PA spokesperson Steve Motale said.
Meanwhile, there seemed to be contradictory statements about who actually has the final say on who becomes the mayor of Joburg.
In a previous interview with The Star, ANC provincial secretary TK Nciza said the minorities were responsible for giving the ANC and other coalition partners a suitable candidate for the mayoral position.
‘’We give a right to the minorities to give us a mayor when there are problems with the mayor. No, it is a mayor of the ANC. It is the minority parties that we give the right to give us a mayor,’’ Nciza said.
The Star understands that the minority parties would be meeting to deliberate on who the next mayor should be, but sources close to the matter told The Star that an Al-Jama-Ah mayor was likely to emerge once more in an extraordinary council meeting on May 2.
The DA-led opposition was also having its own problems, with some former DA coalition partners complaining that they were not consulted on the fielding of Mpho Phalatse as a mayoral candidate.
Phalatse announced that she would be standing against the ANC’s coalition candidate at the elections next week. All mayoral candidates declined to comment.
The Star