No plans to replace Joburg Mayor with regional chair, ANC confirms

The African National Congress (ANC) says it has no plans to replace Dada Morero with Loyiso Masuku as Johannesburg mayor.

This follows Masuku’s recent election as the new ANC Greater Johannesburg regional chairperson, defeating the incumbent Morero in an internal party vote.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says being a chairperson of a region doesn’t give one the status of a mayor.

He was addressing the media on Wednesday at the ANC’s four-day National General Council, which will end today in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

“You see, that’s the problem. People are not looking at organizing the ANC for the better. They are fighting over scrambles over who becomes the mayor. We can make anyone a mayor anytime, but a mayor of what? A coalition government in Johannesburg. We are not in power.”

“The task of the REC that has just been elected should be fighting to get the ANC back, not to get rid of Dada in a coalition government. The first thing people talk about is a buzzword: who must be the mayor? That’s the most important statement,” adds Mbalula.