DADA MORERO’S MAYORAL RETURN UNLIKELY TO STABILIZE JOHANNESBURG, SAYS POLITICAL ANALYST

Johannesburg – According to Political Analyst Dr Dale McKinley, the recent election of Dada Morero as Johannesburg’s new mayor is unlikely to bring any significant changes to the city. Morero’s return to the mayoral office, a position he briefly held in 2022, doesn’t seem poised to stabilise Johannesburg’s governance, which has seen a constant turnover of leadership in recent years.

This ongoing instability largely stems from the complex and often fragile coalitions that dominate local politics. Despite Morero’s assurances and support from the African National Congress and allied groups, the consensus among opposition parties, political experts, and civil society is that his leadership can expect slight improvement.

“A lot of people expect that simply because there’s a new mayor, there will be new politics, but that misunderstands the nature of local government. The mayor might have some degree of power to drive a particular agenda. Still, it’s the solidity of the coalition behind that mayor and what the cabinet or the MMC, the executive council, decides.”

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Possible Changes After the Next Local Elections

In the mayoral race, Morero secured 189 votes. At the same time, his closest competitor, the Democratic Alliance’s Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, garnered 60 votes during the council meeting on 16 August. Despite this clear win, doubts persist about whether Morero’s leadership will deliver the stability and change that Johannesburg so urgently needs.

The DA has been vocal in its criticism of the coalition backing Morero, claiming it is tied to a “legacy of corruption and instability” that has long troubled the city. They argue that the ANC-led coalition needs more political will to address the deep-seated issues stalling Johannesburg’s progress.

Dr McKinley shares these concerns, suggesting that the new administration may focus more on keeping the fragile coalition intact than tackling the city’s significant challenges. He believes that any real stability or meaningful progress is unlikely to emerge until after the next election cycle if it happens at all.

“This obviously then raises a whole range of questions about how you are going to deal with any of the corruption. We have massive corruption scandals in several departments—the tenders that were corrupt, and so forth.”

“I doubt that he’s going to be able to deal with any of these issues precisely because the person or the entity that needs to drive a strong agenda here needs to be politically powerful and sure of what it can do.”

“Whereas the vast majority of the time, I would argue, is going to be spent making sure that this coalition doesn’t fall apart and pleasing all the members of this coalition. That’s the nature of, in some ways, coalition politics.”