Johannesburg — Al Jama-ah has expressed its disappointment with Johannesburg executive mayor, Dada Morero, after he decided to remove Kabelo Gwamanda from his duties.
Morero announced Gwamanda’s dismissal as MMC for Community Development to keep city services running smoothly and meet residents’ needs.
“The decision to discharge Gwamanda is effective immediately and aims to ensure that the city’s service delivery remains uninterrupted and continues to meet the needs of its residents,” Morero reportedly said.
Gwamanda, who served as Johannesburg mayor before Morero, was also placed on special leave after being arrested for fraud allegations.
[LISTEN] Nobuhle Mthembu, ActionSA’s City of Johannesburg Caucus Leader says they will use the council meeting later this month to submit a motion against former mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, to refer to ethics.
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According to EWN, Al Jama-ah’s Gauteng leader, Thapelo Amad, said the party felt blindsided by Morero’s decision and felt he acted unilaterally as the coalition partners were still discussing the matter on a provincial level.
“However, there were never further consultations between us and the ANC [African National Congress] because matters were still being ventilated, so we hadn’t concluded that process,” Amad said.
He said the executive mayor should have waited for the outcome of the process and the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Amad added that the party had no intention to replace Gwamanda as councillor and maintained that he was innocent until proven guilty.
“If the court of law finds him guilty, that’s when the party will take that drastic decision. At this stage, there isn’t anything binding for us, and we will never wait to be told by the opposition which finds an opportunistic element for us to crucify one of our members,” Amad said.
As reported by The Citizen, the party wants the party to reconsider the decision and would engage the ANC to understand what went wrong between the two parties. He said if the ANC had made the decision unilaterally, Al Jama-ah would consider its relationship with the party.
Many political parties, however, welcomed the decision, seeing it as essential to the integrity of the municipality, including ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg is calling for a comprehensive investigation into all agreements and decisions made by the former Mayor and Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Development, Kabelo Gwamanda, who is facing fraud allegations.
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ActionSA’s caucus leader Nobuhle Mthembu supported the move, saying it was unacceptable for a public figure to be in a leadership role while facing accusations of defrauding the community they represent. The party called for a motion to refer Gwamanda to the ethics committee for a review.
Gwamanda remains a PR councillor, with any potential recall at his party’s discretion unless the council intervenes.
The DA called for a thorough investigation into agreements and memorandums of understanding signed by Gwamanda during his tenure. The DA’s caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said while the party welcomed Gwamanda’s removal, that did not close the chapter.
“We can only imagine the damage caused by this individual both during his time as MMC for community development and during his short stint as mayor. We await the full report on this to be made public,” she said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
