After weeks of mounting pressure, Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has resigned after serving a year and four months in the seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement released on 13 August, Gwamanda said he had submitted his resignation to the council speaker, Margaret Arnolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The resignation will be effective from a date to be determined by the council speaker, after which a new executive mayor will be elected by council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gwamanda was the ninth mayor of the country’s economic powerhouse since the 2016 local government election\u2014and the fifth since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As the youngest mayor of Johannesburg, I am humbled by the opportunity to have led this City and to have stabilised it financially and administratively following the collapse of the multiparty coalition government,” said Gwamanda, adding that he would “continue to serve the people of Johannesburg as a councillor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His resignation follows mounting pressure from those within his coalition, opposition parties, and civil society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For over a year, the City of Johannesburg\u2014which has a highly fragmented council\u2014has been led by a coalition comprising the ANC, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Patriotic Alliance (PA), and other smaller parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The appointment of Gwamanda, a member of the Al Jama-ah party, which has only three seats in the council, was a compromise between the ANC and the EFF after the parties could not agree on who would lead the City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ANC holds the most seats, with 91 councillors, the DA has 71 seats, and ActionSA has 44 seats, making it the third-biggest party in the Johannesburg Council. The EFF is the fourth-biggest Johannesburg party, with 29 seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most recently, the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance, made up of numerous civil society organisations, demanded Gwamanda’s resignation, citing \u201cinadequate leadership amidst a worsening governance crisis\u201d in the country\u2019s economic hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n