City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda resigned from office following weeks of huge pressure and claims of incompetence.
Civil organisations as well as political parties have also called for his removal from office. They said he failed to live up to the stands of being a mayor.
Gwamanda submitted his resignation letter to the speaker of Joburg council on Tuesday.
This was in line with the political engagements that have taken place over the past weeks and which have been largely informed by the new political architecture of governance in the country following the May 29 National and Provincial Elections.
“As the youngest Mayor of Johannesburg I am humbled by the opportunity to have led this City and to have stabilised it financially and administratively following the collapse of the multi-party coalition government,” the letter reads.
“I am pleased that we managed to place good governance on course and that we achieved the best audit outcomes witnessed by the City in years,” he said.
“I shall continue to serve the people of Johannesburg as a councillor and will forever cherish the experience afforded to me in my tenure as the executive mayor,” the letter read.
“My story is one I am hopeful will continue to inspire many an African child from our City that against deprivation, isolation, social and political exclusion and with the absence of friends and peers in the corporate and media hierarchy, one can live and rise on the noble cause of changing the conditions of the poor.”
The resignation will be effective from a date to be determined by the speaker.
It is also rumoured that his replacement will be the African National Congress’ Dada Morero, who is the current Finance MMC in the metro. Dada is the ANC Johannesburg region chairperson.
He was previously elected as the city mayor but was removed due to political squabbles in the metro.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics