Joburg Mayor conundrum
28 June 2023
The Star carried an interesting front-page report on 23 June 2023. The headline was “Johannesburg mayor’s office staff push back at the alleged hypocrisy of Action SA and DA.”
There are allegations that the current mayor of Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda, faces serious criminal charges of fraud in that a funeral insurance scheme he ran was not registered at the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA), making it illegal, and many residents of Johannesburg were defrauded when there were no funds to meet their funeral claims. As a result, ActionSA, supported by the DA and several other parties in the opposition coalition, has given notice of a motion of no confidence in the mayor.
It seems that the ANC and the EFF, not to speak of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Al Jamah-Ah, do not regard integrity and a record of honesty as necessary requisites for the mayoral office. How the mighty have fallen! One does not expect too much from the EFF after the VBS scandal (still not finalised) but the ANC used to have a reputation for integrity and occupying the moral high ground. With the passing of President Mandela, ANC representatives, or many of them, appear to have given up on probity, integrity, and honesty. The pursuit of wealth and paid positions is what counts, not the interests of our people.
Regarding the other star player in the ANC/EFF coalition, the PA, one can only go by history to get an indication of how highly they all prize integrity (and competence) in putting into office the second failed and flawed AJA mayor in 3 months. The AJA is a party with 3 representatives out of 270 councillors. The reason for electing puppet mayors is that the rest of the paid positions go mostly to the EFF and the ANC, with the mayor having little authority and no real say.
The leader of the PA is Mr Gayton Mckenzie, a convicted bank robber. His deputy is Kenny Kunene, who served 6 years in jail for fraud. Mr Kunene is now a member of the Mayoral Committee (courtesy of the ANC and EFF) and is in charge of all Johannesburg Roads and a budget of billions. When Mayor Gwamanda disappeared from view recently, Kenny Kunene became the acting mayor of Johannesburg.
The defence against the motion of no confidence in Mayor Gwamanda is what can only be described as the height of “whataboutism.” The EFF/ANC ruling coalition, represented by an AJA spokesperson, said that because there are allegations of dishonesty against Meshack van Wyk, an ActionSA councillor, accused of scamming and defrauding Eldorado Park residents with an illegal funeral scheme, the motion of no confidence in the mayor was hypocritical.
What a shame. The response should have been that if the allegations are true, the mayor must go. Equally, if the allegations about Councillor van Wyk are true, ActionSA must get rid of him.
Ordinary, decent, honest, citizens and voters are coming to believe that politicians, especially those in Johannesburg, are all crooks. And this is grossly unfair. As someone who was in public life for close to 50 years, I can assure the public that there are many honourable and honest public representatives right across the political spectrum. At the same time, there is a current surfeit of dishonest men and women in it for themselves, waiting anxiously for their turn to feed at the trough.
The conundrum for voters is deciding which party can best be trusted to elect honest, competent councillors and mayors.
Douglas Gibson is a former opposition chief whip and ambassador to Thailand.
This article first appeared in The Star.
