The 2026 local government elections cannot come soon enough for Johannesburg, for the current term has been nothing short of a disaster for South Africa’s golden city.
In a not too distant past, they had the likes of Thapelo Amad and Kabelo Gwamanda, who should not have been anywhere near the mayoral chain to begin with.
Just as they thought things would be better now that the ANC’s Dada Morero is at the helm, he proposes the hiring of legally documented foreign nationals to boost the Joburg Metro Police Department’s crime fighting capacity.
On Sunday, Morero suggested that hiring foreigners as metro police would help fight crime and solve the language barrier in the case of arrests, sparking outrage among jobless locals as well as the ANC and igniting calls for him to step down.
Morero has since apologised for his remarks and stated that he just wanted to spark debate.
The country has for years been grappling with sporadic and sometimes lethal xenophobic harassment and violence against African and Asian foreign nationals living in the country, including refugees, asylum seekers, and both documented and undocumented migrants.
Morero, as a leader within the ANC and not a mayor who came from nowhere, like Amad and Gwamanga, should know this. In a country such as South Africa, with its history of unemployment and inequality, there are some things you will do well to keep to yourself and not say in public.
His unfortunate utterances raise concerns about the nature of the future generations of leaders our political parties are breeding. Mind you, it is people such as Morero who could in the future be at the helm of the ANC and possibly the country.
The ANC therefore is duty-bound to rid itself of such leaders. In any case, a change of mayors will not be something new in Joburg.
Cape Times