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3 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
City of Joburg mayor Dada Morero insists ‘Bomb Squad' appointment is not a sign of weakness
Joburg mayor Dada Morero has denied that appointing the 'Bomb Squad' to tackle challenges across the city would show that he's failing to address those problems on his own. Image: IOL Graphic City of Joburg Mayor Dada Morero has denied that appointing the 'Bomb Squad', a team comprising ANC- and EFF-linked members, former city managers, and executives, indicates weakness or a failure to address the city's ongoing challenges. Earlier, IOL News reported that the team was officially announced on Thursday during a media briefing at the Soweto Hotel in Kliptown. Morero said the team will focus on addressing 'crime and grime,' lawlessness, service delivery bottlenecks, and fast-tracking municipal turnaround efforts. He insisted the initiative does not reflect an inability on his part to govern effectively, and blamed the city's decline on previous administrations. 'It's not a thing that is acknowledged in the decline that has happened in the city since 2016, and now we want to arrest and change this,' Morero said. 'In general, the city has resources out there.' Herman Mashaba, the leader of ActionSA, led the administration in 2016. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The metro faces multiple challenges, including hijacked buildings, chronic water shortages, rolling blackouts, pothole-riddled roads, broken traffic signals, rampant crime, and municipal corruption. Residents have repeatedly voiced concerns about the city's inability to resolve these issues. Morero first introduced the Bomb Squad during his State of the City Address (SOCA) in May. The team is led by ANC Veterans League president Dr. Snuki Zikalala and includes several figures, such as former city managers Blake Mosley-Lefatole, Mavela Dlamini, and Professor Trevor Fowler. Also joining are Gerald Dumas, a former chief operations officer, and Reggie Boqo, the city's former group chief financial officer. Philisiwe Twala-Tau will represent the South African Local Government Association, focusing on governance. Vicky Shuping, an advisor to the mayor, will coordinate service delivery and urban management. Meanwhile, Busani Ngwani, of the National School of Government and the Group Performance Audit Committee, will work on improving governance. The team also includes Dr. Kwezi Mabasa of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, and EFF senior researcher Dr. Gumani Tshimomola, both of whom will contribute to economic development planning. Audrey Mothupi, CEO of Systemic Logic Group, will handle private sector partnerships. Morero said most of the members are volunteering their services and are already employed within Johannesburg or other municipalities. Only Zikalala will receive a salary, he said. 'You are saying we volunteer our money, our time, resources, and expertise to help you turn around,' Morero said. 'We have acknowledged that we've had a stubborn environment in changing our financial status.' He said the city needs at least three financial experts to help turn around its finances, addressing issues such as overspending and budget inefficiencies. 'That is why we believe this team will give the necessary support to the current executives who do accept that, yes, there are inefficiencies,' he told the media. 'I also had a meeting with the executives to introduce the Bomb Squad, which was widely received.' Morero said the mayoral committee supports the initiative and has even proposed additional names. 'They've made other recommendations with the collective ownership of the mayoral committee. It's not a duplication, it's a support mechanism where there are gaps and weaknesses,' he said. He added that while there is no timeline for the 'Bomb Squad,' they hope to see major progress within the next year. He said he aims to leave a financial surplus of R5 billion by June 2026. 'We want to grow the economy of the city by another 1% to 3% in the next five years,' Morero said. 'It requires that those focusing on economic growth help us implement policies to achieve that goal.' He emphasised that the team's mandate is to support, not replace existing city departments and enhance service delivery. 'These are individuals who are not employed by the city but are volunteering to give support and share their expertise,' Morero said. IOL Politics
IOL News
30-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Auditor-General report exposes depth of local government decay that sunk the ANC
A sharp critique of the ANC's municipal governance failures highlights how local service delivery crises contributed to the party's electoral decline in South Africa's 2024 general election. Image: IOL Graphic If anyone is still puzzled about why the ANC slipped to just 40% of the national vote at last year's national general elections for the first time in democratic South Africa, they have not been paying attention to the state of the country's municipalities. The ANC did not lose votes because of a sudden surge in opposition support but because South Africans are gatvol They are gatvol because the of broken street lights, the taps run dry, the potholes on the roads are a nightmare and the rubbish is not collected. And this is where the ANC has failed dismally. The Auditor-General's latest consolidated report on local government outcomes reads like a post-mortem of the ANC's electoral performance. It exposes, in stark numbers, just how deep the crisis of service delivery runs at municipal level, where the ANC governs the majority of councils and metros. In the 2023–24 financial year, 87% of municipalities failed to comply with procurement and contract management laws. In 63% of cases, these failures were severe enough to materially affect finances. Additionally, 77% of infrastructure projects inspected had serious deficiencies - meaning the roads, clinics, waterworks and housing projects ordinary people are promised are either not being built, or when they are, they are substandard and unfinished. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading It gets worse. Fifty-three percent of municipalities flouted laws around consequence management, which means that when officials mismanage funds, they are not fired, prosecuted or even formally disciplined. The result? Repeat offenders and serial incompetents, often politically connected, remain in office while communities suffer. This is the height of bad governance. The ANC's fatal miscalculation has been to believe that local government failures would not tarnish the party's national brand. But ask any voter in Joburg, Tshwane, Mangaung or the collapsing municipalities of the North West and Eastern Cape whether they make that distinction. They do not. When sewage runs down your street, you blame the government and in most towns, the ANC is the government. The bread-and-butter issues of water, electricity, refuse collection and functioning infrastructure are the foundation of political credibility. The ANC's neglect of these basics, detailed year after year by the Auditor-General, has eroded public confidence to breaking point. Since 2019, 446 material irregularities have been flagged at municipal level, including billions in lost or wasted funds. And while half have been resolved, it is too little, too late. The cumulative effect of that neglect is what finally showed up at the ballot box in 2024, where for the first time since 1994, the ANC fell below 50%, finishing with a bruising 40%. The collapse of municipalities is not some side issue in national politics. It is where elections are won and lost. The ANC did not lose votes because South Africans suddenly were drawn to what opposition parties were offering, they voted out of frustration and many cases simply stayed at home - effectively denying the ANC their vote. Because when water stops running, when clinics fall apart and when corruption flourishes unchecked at the local level, it affects people's lives more immediately than anything debated in Parliament. The ANC's hollowing out of municipal governance - replacing skilled officials with politically connected but underqualified cadres - is at the heart of this crisis. It created a system where the consequences of failure were shrugged off until communities pushed back the only way they could - at the ballot box. If the ANC is serious about rebuilding trust, they need to start with fixing municipalities, professionalising local government and finally holding those responsible for years of mismanagement accountable. Because no party can govern a country if it cannot manage a town. South Africans voted against sewage in their streets, against empty promises, against councillors who disappear after elections, and against roads that turn to dust while tenders line the pockets of the politically connected. The ANC dropped to 40% because it failed where it matters most - on the streets, in the suburbs and in the townships of this country. And if it does not fix that, it will keep falling. **Lee Rondganger is the deputy editor of IOL IOL Opinion
