Gauteng Premier and African National Congress provincial chairperson Panyaza Lesufi on Friday expressed confidence that City of Joburg’s Finance MMC Dada Morero, who is also Joburg ANC regional chair, will be elected as the new mayor of the economic heartbeat metro.
On Thursday night, Lesufi delivered his State of the Province Address where he outlined that he has delivered on his previous promises, including conducting lifestyle audits on government heads, and intensifying the fight against rampant crime.
The premier’s pledges in the State of the Province Address include ending load shedding, combating crime, creating millions of jobs, fighting corruption, and advancing infrastructure development.
On Friday morning, ahead of the City of Joburg’s council meeting to elect a new executive mayor, Lesufi told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that Morero’s candidacy has overwhelming support from majority of parties in council.
“So far it is only one political party that is not supporting us. There is another one that is still on the fence. All political parties that we have engaged, that are part of our partnership, and the new political party we are engaging with – ActionSA, we will have an overwhelming majority to elect him (Morero),” said Lesufi.
“I doubt if that one political party that is not prepared to engage with us will even field a candidate because they know they will have a crashing defeat.”
Panyaza reiterated that the incoming mayor has his work cut out, and bringing the sparkle back to Joburg CBD is the top priority.
“That CBD is an embarrassment. It is an eyesore and we cannot allow it to be like this. We cannot compete with major CBDs like New York, Paris and others. We just need to accept that we need to bring a new thinking cap. The current method of managing the Johannesburg CBD really cannot assist us,” he said.
The heavily populated Joburg CBD remains a major economic hub littered with shops, offices, and business premises.
Regarding the engagements with the Democratic Alliance in the province, Lesufi said there are no ongoing talks at the moment, but his door remains open.
Negotiations collapsed between the two political parties, and Lesufi went on to form a government co-opting other political parties including RISE Mzansi, Inkatha Freedom Party and Patriotic Alliance.
IOL