After complaints about his appointment, the ANC has removed Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero as the head of a team of ANC Gauteng leaders that will hold mayors to account.
He will now lead a different unit in the ANC Gauteng provincial task team (PTT) responsible for legislature and governance.
Morero was appointed convenor of the local government intervention team on June 1 and was removed this week.
The Sunday Times has seen a letter from ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula to the provincial leadership, dated June 9, in which Morero no longer appears on the intervention team list and has been moved to head the legislature and governance team.
Nathi Congwane is the new convenor of the intervention team.
This follows a falling out at Luthuli House over Morero’s appointment, with concerns raised about a mayor being responsible for a team that would hold other ANC mayors to account.
The change, according to those close to the dispute, was made unilaterally by Mbalula, a political ally of Morero, without the approval of the ANC’s top seven and the NWC
ANC leaders in Gauteng are said to have questioned how Morero was appointed to the position. Their complaint, according to sources, was that Morero seemed to have been appointed to both the provincial working committee (PWC) and as convenor of the intervention team without the approval of the ANC’s national working committee (NWC).
The Sunday Times has seen a list that was approved by national officials led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the NWC, which had former education MEC Matome Chiloane as the head of the local intervention team. This was different to the list that was released by Mbalula.
The change, according to those close to the dispute, was made unilaterally by Mbalula, a political ally of Morero, without the approval of the ANC’s top seven and the NWC.
Morero’s appointment also led to tensions among the top seven officials this week.
“He [Mbalula] created that list himself,” said a senior ANC leader. “We went to the NWC, read out the names, and the NWC agreed. And then we left the meeting [and] he went to do his shenanigans. This is what is sowing tensions in Gauteng, but it’s also going to create a lot of mistrust in the NWC.”
The Sunday Times has learnt that the original list, which was compiled by second deputy secretary-general Maropene Ramokgopa and NEC member Mduduzi Manana, did not have Morero as part of the PWC and that the decision to add him to that list was not made by the NWC.
Another senior insider said the list presented to the NWC had Morero only as a member of the PTT, without any responsibilities.
“Maropene and Mdu did bring in Dada [Morero] and [Jacob] Khawe into the PTT. Dada was part of the PTT but was not given that responsibility [to lead the intervention team].”
The complaints over the inclusion of Morero in the PWC and his role as convenor of the intervention team are believed to have been made to Deputy President Paul Mashatile by some ANC Gauteng leaders. Mashatile is believed to have raised them at Luthuli House.
The NWC list is still subject to further refinement and adherence to good governance and ethics in the renewal process of the ANC
— Mothusi Shupinyane ka Ndaba, ANC media liaison officer
The complaint was over one of several decisions made by Mbalula and involving Morero.
The Sunday Times reported in January that Mbalula had called for the police to investigate the outcome of the ANC Johannesburg conference held in December in which Morero lost the regional leadership to Loyiso Masuku.
Mbalula had instructed Gauteng leaders to hand over all conference-related material to the police.
In February Mbalula announced that a case of fraud had been opened after what appeared to be ballot papers from the conference were discovered at a house belonging to the elections agency, arguing that they were meant to be kept at either the regional or provincial office for at least six months.
Party leaders said these developments were not in keeping with ANC norms.
It was reported at the time that Mashatile, Ramokgopa and the ANC’s first deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, had expressed their displeasure over Mbalula’s actions.
ANC media liaison officer Mothusi Shupinyane ka Ndaba said Mbalula “shifted” the names to make each committee responsive.
“The aim was to make sure that a deployee is not accountable to himself, hence the swap from [local government] intervention. The NWC list is still subject to further refinement and adherence to good governance and ethics in the renewal process of the ANC.”
Morero said as far as he was concerned, the matter had been resolved as he had been moved to lead a different unit in the Gauteng PTT.
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