Joburg mayor survives no confidence vote

City of Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero has survived a no-confidence motion brought against him in a council sitting on 25 June 2025.

The mayor survived the vote with 144 voting against the motion, 75 in favour, and 43 abstaining.

Those who voted against include the ANC, EFF, PA, and other smaller parties. Action SA, despite being highly critical of Morero, abstained.

The second largest party in the council, the DA, filed the motion against Morero on on May 7.

“Under the current leadership, basic services are crumbling, communities are being neglected, and the very machinery of local government is grinding to a halt,” said DA Johannesburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku describing her reasoning for bringing forward the motion.

“Instead of leading with integrity, his administration has been marked by mismanagement, patronage networks, and a disturbing lack of transparency,” she said.

Kayser-Echeozonjoku also accused the council speaker of failing to act impartially, saying this has undermined the council’s ability to hold the executive to account.

Action SA, which is the third-largest party represented in the council with 44 out of the 270 seats, was key to Morero’s assent to the mayorship in August 2024.

“In considering Action SA’s approach to these motions, we remain unequivocal in our view that Dada Morero has failed in his leadership of the City of Johannesburg,” said Action SA provincial chairperson Funzi Ngobeni.

“Across Johannesburg, it has become a universal reality that service delivery is collapsing. Water and electricity outages have become commonplace, road infrastructure is at its worst, and institutions like City Power are becoming wholly dysfunctional,” he added.

However, despite pointing out Morero’s failings, the party decided to abstain from the motion rather than vote for it, leaving the mayor firmly in place.

Action SA, who governs with the ANC in the City of Tshwane, said the decision to abstain from the motion against the mayor was based on concerns over the DA’s approach.

The party cited a lack of consultation and clarity regarding what alternative government would replace the coalition government if the motion were to pass.

Since losing the 2024 National Election, the ANC has entered into a Government of National Unity (GNU) with the DA and several smaller parties, and smaller coalitions at a provincial and metro level.

However, in Gauteng, the ANC and DA did not reach a provincial coalition agreement, leaving the parties bitterly at odds in arguably the country’s most important metros.

The deadlock has prevented a formal power-sharing deal at the municipal level, further complicating service delivery in major metros like Joburg, which has seen seven mayors in as many years.

A city under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons

South Africa’s economic hub has severely deteriorated over the past several years.

Pothole-ridden roads and litter-strewn streets have become common sights. Many derelict buildings in the inner city are now home to squatters, underscoring a deepening housing crisis that the government has struggled to address.

According to city data, around 40% of Johannesburg’s water supply is lost due to leaking pipes and aging infrastructure, leading to water cuts.

Electricity losses are also significant, with roughly 35% of power lost, primarily due to cable theft and illegal connections. These losses contribute to widespread outages and reduced service delivery.

This is happening in a metro that is responsible for 16% of South Africa’s GDP and employs 12% of the national workforce. 

The ANC in the city blamed political instability and the change of political leadership in most municipalities post the 2016 municipal elections for the challenges plaguing South Africa’s economic heartland. 

Speaking to Business Day, ANC Johannesburg regional spokesperson Masilo Serekele said that the city is the way it is “because of the disruptions in leadership changes from 2016, so it’s opportunism to then turn and blame the ANC for the infrastructure collapse.”

“Those things don’t happen overnight. We have now stabilised the city’s finances. The motion is a distraction and we will deal with it,” he added.

This year, President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his disappointment, telling the council that it was disheartening to witness the city in disarray during the G20 meetings held in the metro. 

“In the one or two meetings of the G20 that I attended here, it was not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment,” said Ramaphosa.

“When I was going to… Soweto, and I drove through the city and the township, it was like driving through a dark city. “I longed to see the beautiful contours of my city through streetlights, but there were none,” said the President.

Johannesburg’s recently tabled budget for the 2025/2026 financial year is set at R89 billion, with Morero pledging to address unreliable revenue collection and infrastructure decay.