Q&A with Gauteng MEC for co-operative governance & traditional affairs Jacob Mamabolo

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has made it stunningly clear to Joburg mayor Dada Morero that the city he leads has collapsed. Chris Barron asked Gauteng MEC for co-operative governance & traditional affairs Jacob Mamabolo ...

How did Johannesburg collapse without you noticing?

The challenges in Joburg require all three spheres of government to work together better to solve them.

Isn’t the province and specifically you as MEC of co-operative governance & traditional affairs (Cogta) constitutionally mandated to intervene when you see Joburg collapsing?

We shouldn’t be pointing fingers and creating divisions. The failure in Joburg is that we have not placed at the centre the core principle of our constitution, which is co-operative governance, friendly, good intergovernmental relations.

Instead of friendly relations, shouldn’t you have read the riot act to the mayor at least a year ago?

I think we need to move away from that paradigm ...

What paradigm?

Finger-pointing, blaming. Our constitution enjoins all of us to ensure that national and provincial provide support and intervention for municipalities.

So why haven’t you intervened in Joburg?

The president himself has initiated an intervention in Joburg. All of us, including as Cogta in the province, need to make our contribution in the presidential working group meant to turn around the City of Joburg. There’s a principle of accountability ...

Isn’t it because of no accountability that Joburg has collapsed?

I think it’s on record that government has said things are not working well in Joburg. The approach we must go to now is the presidential working group. A united approach is the only way to provide basic services.

Isn’t the bottom line that you as Cogta are constitutionally mandated to monitor what is going on and intervene if necessary, and you haven’t?

I think we could have done much more as Gauteng Cogta. But after the elections in 2024, we said let’s put together a province-wide turnaround strategy to make sure that, including Joburg, we are able to improve the performance of all the municipalities. This turnaround plan of 2024 was an acknowledgment that if nothing is done municipalities will deteriorate even more.

And still nothing was done, was it?

We put in place a turnaround strategy, and on top of that the president came in 2025 and announced a presidential working group in Joburg. All those efforts are hard at work. From where I sit, I think we have built a momentum and capacity to turn things around.

What about the unfunded adjustment budget the city just signed, and the illegal R10bn wage agreement it’s entered into with municipal workers?

It will be definitely misleading to the public to suggest that the problems of Joburg and our municipality could have just been resolved within a period of a year. Remember, there’s a time lag in any situation. The efforts we are putting in play should reflect in the medium to long term.

Why didn’t you immediately halt the R10bn wage agreement when it became known?

If there is any dilemma about that, we are better when we sit around a table to discuss that issue.

Should you be sitting around a table when you’re constitutionally mandated to intervene immediately to stop such an illegal financial deal?

National Treasury has got financial oversight over municipalities.