Morero on who calls the coalition shots and being ‘Johannesburg’s last ANC mayor’

Coalitions are again expected to be the order of business once the dust settles around polling stations after 4 November.

Only the Cape Town and Buffalo City metro municipalities had majority leadership going into election week, with the other six having hung or coalition-run councils.

Voters cast their votes in 257 municipalities and 4 488 ward across South Africa, with an Ipsos poll releasing predictive data for five of the largest municipalities.

In Johannesburg, Ipsos place the DA near the 30% mark, and the ANC fractionally behind by 2% to 3%.

“The levels of support recorded for the DA and ANC in Johannesburg broadly reflect the national view, but this time the DA registers slightly higher support than the ANC,” Ipsos’ election report states.

‘ANC will come back’

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero cast his ballot via special vote on Tuesday morning at Laerskool Roodekrans in Roodepoort.

Asked whether the ANC’s Johannesburg region had identified its preferred coalition partners, the mayor said it would be dealt with higher up.

“Those matters are handled by the national officials. At this stage, they have not given us any indication.

“I guess after the elections we will know, but the function belongs to them. It is their competency to make those decisions,” Morero told The Citizen.

The data suggests that the ANC are unlikely to fall off the map in 2026, squashing speculation that Morero could be the “ANC’s last mayor of Johannesburg”.

The incumbent agreed, feeling bullish as he prepared to vote.

“Well, it is politics. We will see when the results come. Some did say that in the last election, but the ANC came back.

“Because we are now in the coalition politics, it is possible that the ANC will come back once again,” Morero said.

Morero’s highlights

Morero said his administration’s focus on cleaning up the CBD and other high-priority areas, infrastructure investments, as well as the launch of biogas and waste-to-energy projects aimed at reducing landfill space were among the highlights of recent years.

“We went out aggressively enforcing by-laws in the inner city, trying to raise capital for infrastructure development and bringing about new technologies in how we manage waste.

“So, those are the issues that I think will form part of the legacy of the two years I have been in office,” Morero concluded.

Despite these positives, the municipality went into election week battling widespread water, electricity, and refuse removal challenges.

Other parties in the Johannesburg picture noted by Ipsos include the EFF and ActionSA hovering either side of 10%, with uMkhonto weSizwe party completing the top five predicted parties with roughly 5%.

“Current survey results suggest that no single party commands majority support nationally and that coalition politics is likely to remain a defining feature of South Africa’s political landscape in the next two-and-a-half years leading up to the next national election,” Ipsos stated.