Until her election as the new Johannesburg council speaker, Margaret Arnolds’s name would have been unfamiliar to many outside the city’s political circles. But Arnolds, an African Independent Congress (AIC) councillor, is not a newcomer to politics, her decades-long public career having started in community activism in her Albertville, Johannesburg, hometown.
She stepped onto the big stage this week when she was elected speaker by the unstable ANC/EFF coalition after the ousting of her predecessor Colleen Makhubele.
In an interview this week, Arnolds told the Sunday Times that her primary goal is to unify the fragmented, often tumultuous, 18-party council.
“I want to hold decorum, I want to work with all 269 councillors as councillor number 270. I want to give everybody a fair chance in council, but only if we stick to the rules. I will be there to ensure that every councillor is able to raise issues emanating from their communities irrespective of the positions that we hold.
“We are supposed to represent our constituencies as the interface between our communities and the executive. I need to be impartial when it comes to the executive, [but] if they aren’t doing what they are supposed to, then we need to hold them accountable so that the government delivers services.”
Arnolds dismissed claims that the ANC and EFF were manipulating minority parties to execute a power grab in Gauteng’s municipalities, insisting the alliance was a brainchild of minority parties.
“After criticising the DA-led government’s way of doing things, minorities went to speak to the ANC, the EFF and other political parties in an effort to bring them together. We got everyone to sit around the same table and agree to work together. We are working towards stability for the city. I want my kids to grow up in a stable municipality and for us to restore the world class status of the city.”
Arnolds will preside over her first council meeting this week, which will discuss the DA’s motion to dissolve council and call fresh elections. She said she believed the move was a mere election campaign gimmick.
“[The] 2024 [general elections] is around the corner, everybody is out guns blazing, campaigning. The upcoming council sitting is essentially our last meeting before everyone goes on recess, so it is disingenuous to be doing something like this when there is no time to execute it.”
Arnolds said she wanted to leave behind a legacy worth remembering.
“I want to be remembered as having united all councillors. As the speaker that has less points of order on them, but the speaker that councillors can hold accountable on work done and be remembered for years to come.”
We can differ on ideology and other things but when we go home, we go home to the same issues facing communities. We are all affected by electricity issues, we go home to the same water outages, the same crime
She is the eldest of five children born to a furniture maker father and a retail cashier turned supervisor mother.
Despite her parents having been supporters of the National Party and later the DA, she questioned societal norms.
“I always wanted to know why the child next door with darker skin and a different strand of hair from me was not allowed to be my friend, why would I always hear the ‘k’ word at home. I then decided I needed to know what’s happening and I think that was my reason for getting into community-based activism.”
Her first stint was with the South Western Joint Civic Organisation where she served as a secretary. The organisation was later absorbed into the IFP and Arnolds went on to lead the youth brigade.
After a fallout between IFP founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi and former national chair Ziba Jiyane, Arnolds joined Jiyane in leaving the IFP to form the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco). When former PAC deputy president Themba Godi formed the African People’s Convention, Arnolds joined him and became the party’s deputy secretary- general. Later she joined the AIC, where she is a national executive committee member.
The speaker lamented the neglect of poor communities in the city and the social ills that spurred her to positively impact the living conditions of those around her.
“I have seen the struggles not only in the coloured areas, but also in other areas. I’ve seen kids being abused, I’ve gone through the same abuse through the father of my children, I’ve seen girls being abused and abducted, I’ve seen brutal killings in the areas where I come from. I’ve witnessed mothers crying for their missing children. I’ve seen services not delivered in areas neglected by the city. I’ve seen people who grew up with me and went to school with me turning into alcoholics and drug addicts.
“I was raped three times. Regardless, I’m not a victim but a survivor,” she said. After speaking out about her abuse she started an NGO called My Life Matters, where she provided a platform for fellow survivors to tell their stories, reclaim their lives and get counselling.
Arnolds spoke highly of her parents, who instilled a conviction that she should not let her circumstances define her, but forge a discipline to become a better person. She said this was a lesson that carried her from youth and civic and political activism to the benches of the Johannesburg council.
“I would love to make a difference, to see Eldorado Park becoming gun free. I’d like to see Orange Farm upgraded to a place where they do not face the problems they are currently facing. I’d want to see Soweto and Pimville and its people living a better life. I’d love to see political parties raise their issues and differences in council but come together for the betterment of communities.
“We can differ on ideology and other things but when we go home, we go home to the same issues facing communities. We are all affected by electricity issues, we go home to the same water outages, the same crime. If those basic social ills can be dealt with, then I will be a happy person.”
Arnolds, a mother of three, grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to three, said they inspire her to contribute to the betterment of the city.
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.