Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero was heavily criticised for telling a resident she was "talking sh..t" during an engagement this week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has described Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero’s utterances during a service delivery engagement with residents in Tshepisong, Soweto, as “completely unacceptable”.
Morero told a resident who accused him of being a criminal that he was “talking sh#t”.
During a City Power Tshepisong Electricity Imbizo in Soweto earlier this week, Morero had a heated verbal exchange with a resident.
Morero reprimanded the resident and said that if the resident was being disrespectful, he too had the capacity to be disrespectful.
Following criticism from residents and social media users, Morero apologised for his remarks.
“During the meeting, emotions ran high between me and one of the participants. I would like to profusely and unconditionally apologise for my utterances which were made. It should not have been done in that fashion, and I do take full responsibility,” the mayor said.
WATCH:
"Don't call me a criminal," Dada Morero reprimanding a member of the public. pic.twitter.com/W31HMAwp6n
— Pule Letshwiti-Jones (@pule_jones)
August 27, 2026
Speaking on the sidelines of a campaign trail in Soweto, Ramaphosa said what Dada Morero said was totally unacceptable, however, he has since apologised.
“He’s gone public and apologised and we as the ANC have taken him up on that. I do hope that our people will also be able to accept the apology that he has given,” he said.
The ANC leader said campaigning in Soweto was not doing damage control, and the people in the area did not even raise the issue.
“Not a single pone raised the issue. They’ve only spoken in a way that they want councillors to work well for us. They want their mayor to execute the manifesto of the ANC. That is about the sum total of what they said about the incident.
“So, we move ahead and in any campaign there will always be mishaps and missteps and we are people and we’ll always make mistakes. The important thing is whether we humble ourselves enough to be able to say we apologise this does not represent who we are because what he said does not represent in any way what the ANC is and what the ANC stands for,” he said.
LGE 2026 | ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa, campaigning for the party in Soweto, says Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has apologised for his remarks to a resident and insists the apology is genuine. pic.twitter.com/1YZRezBrR2
— SABC News (@SABCNews)
August 29, 2026
