By Zukile Majova
Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero faces a career-defining weekend as he fights to stay in charge of the ANC in the country’s biggest city.
The ANC is holding its regional elective conference where Morero is seeking re-election as chairperson — a move that could secure him the party’s nomination to be mayor again in 2026.
He is up against Loyiso Masuku, the finance head of the city, and former regional secretary. But Morero, already serving as mayor, has the edge — with strong backing from President Cyril Ramaphosa and Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
Still, with the DA bringing back Helen Zille and ActionSA running with its founder Herman Mashaba, Morero is a lightweight by comparison.
Worse still, his track record is marred by chaos. He was finance boss while the city collapsed under Thapelo Amad and Kabelo Gwamanda — two mayors from Al Jama-ah, the ANC’s junior coalition partner that won just 1% of the vote.
Despite that, Morero and Lesufi handed the city over to them, pulling strings from behind the scenes. They called the shots while Al Jama-ah took the heat.
Now Morero claims to be saving the city — from a mess he helped make.
Yes, there have been minor improvements. Some roads have fresh paint, potholes have been patched, and parts of the inner city look slightly better. But the real issues remain.
Joburg is still filthy. More than 200 hijacked buildings are run by criminal syndicates who collect rent from desperate families. Load shedding might have paused for some, but not in Alexandra where blackouts still happen daily. And in the south, water cuts can go on for weeks.
Morero blames old pipes, broken reservoirs and lack of funds. He says the city needs R45 billion just to fix the water system — and R200 billion overall to sort out its infrastructure.
So far, the National Treasury has promised over R50 billion for Gauteng, but even that is a drop in the bucket.
With municipal elections less than a year away, the ANC is unlikely to gamble on a new face. The risk of creating two power centres — a new mayoral candidate under Morero’s leadership — is too high.
The party wants one leader in the region, both politically and in government. So if Morero wins the conference, he will almost certainly lead the ANC campaign in Johannesburg.
But here’s the problem: under his watch, the ANC only managed 33% of the vote in the last election. And the coalition it stitched together is shaky at best.
Can the ANC really afford to send Morero to take on the big guns? Zille is a fierce campaigner with national name recognition. Mashaba is a former Joburg mayor who still has strong support.
Ramaphosa tried to boost Morero’s profile by putting him in charge of a “clean-up” ahead of the G20 summit. But the results were patchy. Foreign delegates may have seen tidy streets and painted pavements. Locals still see rot.
In fairness, Morero has only been mayor since August 2024, and much of the city’s decay predates his term. But he was never far from power. He was the money man throughout.
Now his allies say he deserves a second chance to fix the mess. They argue that progress takes time, that at least he has a plan, and that turning around a city like Johannesburg is no quick job.
But time is exactly what the ANC does not have. The DA already has massive billboards along the highways attacking the ANC and calling on voters to ditch black economic empowerment.
Other parties are months into their campaigns. The ANC, meanwhile, is still fighting over leadership positions.
If Morero survives the weekend, expect him to be the face of the ANC in Johannesburg. ANC secretary Fikile Mbalula says metro mayoral candidates will be announced in February — a full year after rivals started their push.
The big question is: can Dada Morero go toe-to-toe with Helen Zille and Herman Mashaba in 2026?
Or is the ANC setting him up to take the fall for yet another defeat?
Image caption: ANC Johannesburg regional chairperson Dada Morero
Image Source: City of Johannesburg
