Morero says he will sit on the opposition benches if the ANC passes him over for mayor

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero says he is prepared to serve as an ordinary councillor if the ANC does not name him as its mayoral candidate, telling journalists after casting his vote in Roodepoort on Tuesday morning that his position on the party’s list puts him in council either way.

“I’m number four on the list. If the ANC gets more votes for PR, it means I will make it into council, whether I’m mayor or not,” Morero said at Laerskool Roodekrans. “I’ve been deployed by the ANC and I must carry out the mandate as instructed by my party. So, I will be in council and if I’m in the opposition benches, I’ll be sitting there.”

The ANC has not yet announced its mayoral candidates for municipalities across the country. In Johannesburg it has shortlisted three names for the top post: Morero, deputy mayor Loyiso Masuku and Frank Chikane. As the Mail & Guardian reported on 3 November, insiders say the party held back its announcements nationally partly to avoid members leaving or withholding votes if their preferred candidate lost out.

For a Johannesburg reader the practical question is not who sits in which chair but what the next mayoral committee does about water and electricity. Residents in parts of the city have gone for weeks without water, and service delivery and power cuts remain live grievances across the metro.

Morero attributed some of the water problems to extreme weather conditions that pushed up consumption. Put to him that some residents blame sabotage for the city’s water and electricity troubles, he declined to adopt the theory while describing a pattern of damage to city infrastructure.

“I wouldn’t want to venture into conspiracy theories. All I know is that, in terms of our infrastructure, there have been a lot of [incidents], whether it’s sabotage or vandalism,” he said.

He cited a substation attack four days before the vote. “Somebody went to our central sub-station and cut the wires and left. They didn’t take anything and we had to replace those wires so that we could restore electricity.”

He said there had also been cases of unauthorised people closing water valves. “We had to investigate and we found out that the valves had been closed and that there were no instructions from Johannesburg Water to close them.”

Morero said the ANC had campaigned for eight months and that its support base remained strong, and he rejected the suggestion that the city is poorly run. “There will always be challenges in local government and there is no time when there are no specific challenges. In essence, Johannesburg remains one of the cities that is well run,” he said.

He urged residents to vote. “People must come out and vote to exercise their rights because it is through governance structures that we put in place, voted for by the majority, that we will be able to look after the interests of communities.”

On turnout he was direct about what his party needs. “The more voters we get out, the better. In fact, for the ANC, especially in our strongholds, voters must come out in their numbers to secure us another mandate to continue the work that we have demonstrated in the short time of two years, showing that we can do more and do it better.”

The ANC’s internal divisions and the party’s record in local government have been central to this campaign, with recent polls cited by the Mail & Guardian predicting a decline in ANC support. The party’s mayoral announcement, when it comes, will settle the question Morero answered on Tuesday: whether he leads the city or watches it from the benches.