South Africa: Joburg Is Still Worth Its Weight in Gold

Zukile Majova writes that the ANC’s funding needs are behind this week’s ousting of the DA led coalition from power in Joburg.

With all the resources and the patronage network of the provincial government and the Joburg Metro at its disposal, the ANC scraped together only 50,2% of the popular vote in Gauteng in the 2019 election.

Going to the 2024 national general elections without Joburg Metro's R77 billion would be political suicide for the ANC.

Such a big budget can run a province - the entire Eastern Cape government operates with a budget of R87.3 billion.

This is the main reason why the ANC has to fight tooth and nail to retain the country's economic hub, even working with the EFF, a party that was built with the single purpose of removing the ANC from power.

As we speak the EFF has a resolution to boo, heckle and make it impossible for ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa to make public addresses until he accounts for the robbery cover up at his Phalaphala Farm.

There is no knowing exactly how the voters and residents in the Joburg Metro feel about Dada Morero, their new mayor. All they know is that months of wheeling and dealing mainly between the ANC and the EFF has wrested control of the city council away from the DA-led coalition.

From the very beginning the battle for control of the City of Gold was never about ousted mayor Mpho Phalatse or the DA's refusal to share power with smaller parties in the DA-coalition that ran the city for 10 months.

Even if Madam Helen Zille had gotten her house in order, the ANC was never going to allow the DA to run such a powerful municipality on the eve of the do-or-die national election that is coming in 2024.

The ANC also has serious funding problems, mostly brought about by the new Political Party Funding Act which forces political parties to declare political funding and donations.

In the first quarter of the year, the ANC declared just R10 000 compared to the DA's R15.9 million, the Patriotic Alliance's R310 000 and Acton SA's R750 000.

Public protests by ANC staff at the ANC's Luthuli House head office have become common with workers going three months without pay.

The voters are also gatvol with the ANC 's tolerance of corruption and its protection of party cadres who loot state resources - which might be why the ANC thinks it needs a much bigger budget to entice voters to back them again.

But voters are not likely to be impressed by the sordid power play that resulted in another change of government in Joburg - and with 2024 just 18 months away this is a memory that will not fade.

This article originally appeared on Scrolla

Photo: Scrolla