ANC regains control of City of Johannesburg

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ANC regains control of City of Johannesburg

8:41 CAT | 04 Dec 2019

New Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo. [Picture: Veli Nhlapo]

The ANC has regained control of the City of Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa.

On Wednesday, 137 councillors elected the city’s former finance member of the mayoral committee (MMC), Geoff Makhubo, as mayor.

It has been a bit more than three years since Herman Mashaba, then a DA office-bearer, was elected mayor in a marathon council meeting at City Hall.

Makhubo’s election brings an end to the DA-led coalition government, which formed after no political party succeeded in getting an absolute majority during the 2016 local government elections.

Mashaba resigned from the post as a result of internal DA politics, and it took effect on Wednesday last week.

Since then, the city has been without a mayor, as the council meeting on Thursday last week was postponed to determine what exactly a majority constituted. A legal opinion held that it was the majority of all valid votes cast, and not of all available votes.

Just like three years ago, taking control of the city went down to who was able to bring enough voting support together for their candidates on the day.

A total of 268 councillors participated in the election, with 137 voting for the ANC’s Makhubo, 101 for the DA’s Funzela Ngobeni and 30 for the EFF’s Musa Novela.