Six months ago former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Moerane and his comrade, ANC regional secretary Dada Morero, were inseparable — often enjoying drinks at top Joburg eateries.
But next weekend the two will go head-to-head when the ANC in Johannesburg sits for its much-anticipated regional elective conference.
Moerane has aligned himself with the group that previously supported late Joburg mayor Geoff Makhubo — who was his opponent not so long ago.
Moerane and Morero fell out over the Johannesburg mayorship after the local government elections last year.
After the death of mayor Jolidee Matongo, the two reportedly had a pact that Moerane would act as mayor for a month before the elections and then allow Morero to take over after the vote. But after tasting power Moerane allegedly reneged on the agreement and insisted on staying on as mayor.
They were both left with egg on their faces when the ANC lost the municipality.
Morero told the Sunday Times that his former ally was driven by personal ambition when he ended up colluding with the opposing faction to clinch the mayorship.
“It’s politics. We are not in the church and people are driven by ambitions more than the bigger picture about what is it that the ANC wants to achieve. They think first about ‘me, myself and I’ and on the basis of that they do not mind compromising relationships and political relationships as long as they are achieving what they want,” he said.
“But personally I am not affected in any way. I’ve long moved on. We accept that these things do happen in life, whether in politics or in church or the corporate world. We are from different backgrounds certainly, we are driven by different ambitions and even our politics and ideological clarity is different. So there’s not really much you can do except accept it.”
Morero is the outgoing regional secretary and his faction, which Moerane was part of at the time, had agreed that he would contest for regional chair and subsequently become mayor.
Morero said it was always agreed in his circle that with more than 10 years as regional secretary he would take over as chair, and he was taken aback by Moerane’s stance.
“It’s not a fight, it’s an issue of an individual deciding to work with the other group because now the ANC is entering a process of electing mayors and on the basis of that you decide to go on the other side so that you can garner support and numbers without briefing your group that 'guys I’m leaving you'.
“We saw it in the meeting when the numbers were different, that he was working with the other group, we accepted and moved on,” Morero said.
Moerane argued that he received a majority of the votes during the regional executive committee meeting, which indicated that he was the preferred candidate.
He said he was nominated to stand for mayor and he could not put their friendship ahead of that.
“In terms of the relationship, it started when we were contesting for the position of mayorship of Johannesburg. We both contested, we were nominated by the REC, we went for the interviews and the NEC of the ANC pronounced on Mpho Moerane as a mayoral candidate for Johannesburg for this term. That is why today I am the leader of the ANC caucus in Johannesburg,” Moerane said.
“If you look at the numbers of people who voted for me at the REC, I was voted for by 26 out of 27 people who attended the meeting and he was voted for by 15 people. Basically, I was voted in by all REC members. So that was an indication on its own to say who do we want to lead us in Johannesburg. It is a vote of confidence by all REC members.”
Moerane’s line-up has Eunice Mgcina as his deputy, Justice Ngalonkulu as regional secretary and Loyiso Masuku as deputy secretary.
The group is still discussing whether to choose either Ace Magashule’s aide Phosane Mngqibisa or Maxwell Metsamba for regional treasurer.
Morero’s preferred top five has Simon Motha as his deputy, regional spokesperson Sasabona Manganye as secretary, Nomoya Mnisi as deputy secretary and former speaker Nonceba Molwele as regional treasurer.
Both factions said they were confident of winning.
Whoever does win will have a huge task of winning back the municipality, which the ANC lost in elections last year to a coalition led by the DA.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.