Creation of deputy mayor position in Johannesburg sparks controversy amid service delivery crisis

The DA has slammed the creation of a deputy mayor position in the City of Johannesburg following a similar decision by the City of Tshwane last year.

DA Johannesburg speaker designate Councillor Alex Christians described the move as appalling and ridiculous.

“The DA in Johannesburg is appalled that the ANC-led coalition partners voted in favour of the creation of a deputy mayor position, while the city and its residents suffer under broken service delivery,” he said.

According to Christians, the office, as per the DA’s own costing in 2016, will cost the residents at least R10 million to set up.

“This, while taps run dry, and rubbish is uncollected,” he explained.

During the vote, 37 ActionSA and GOOD Party councillors abstained, leading to the new position passing by 107 votes to 87 against.

“Since the ANC-led coalition took over, Joburg’s financial and service delivery situation has only worsened, and we have seen the city failing to pay Rand Water; contractors building the water tower at Brixton; and most recently, we have seen the failure to pay Pikitup staff lead to services coming to a standstill,” added Christians.

He said this only motivates the DA’s stance that this position will not serve the residents of Johannesburg right now.

“Today was a clear indication that position was more important than the people of Johannesburg.

“The DA will always stand up for the best interest of the residents of Johannesburg,” Christians further stated.

ActionSA also abstained from voting in the now postponed motion of no confidence in Joburg Mayor Dada Morero.

“No effort was made to hold such engagements when this motion was first submitted, and these same parties fell over themselves to assist the ANC in removing ActionSA from the position of speaker in which the party was holding the failing government to account.

“It is simply unreasonable to expect support for removing a mayor while being completely unable to answer the most basic question of what comes next,” ActionSA caucus leader Marcel Coutriers said.

The party said that while Morero’s administration has been objectively disastrous, there is no clear or credible alternative plan for better government being presented and, as such, the motion risks becoming yet another round of musical chairs in the mayoralty, with no tangible benefit for residents.

Morero was ousted as ANC Joburg regional chairperson at the party’s regional conference in December and replaced by Finance MMC Loyiso Masuku.

The ANC has declared 2026 as “The Year of Decisive Action to Fix Local Government and Transform the Economy”.

The party has also established service delivery war rooms, which are being restructured, consolidated, and strengthened on the back lessons learned previously from local, district/metro, provincial, and national levels, to follow up on all service delivery issues.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za