Jolidee Matongo of the African National Congress ( ANC ) was chosen during a special council meeting on Tuesday.
According to the speaker, Nonceba Molwele, only one candidate was nominated for the council election.
After a thorough vetting process of the three ANC candidates chosen by the regional executive committee, Matongo received approval from the ANC‘s top leaders last week.
Matongo took a tough stance during his first press conference after being elected, saying that officials who fail to execute their jobs will be dealt with.
Jolidee Matongo has been elected as the new mayor of Johannesburg
“They’ll have to sit at home, and if we have to go to the labor court, we’ll go,” he said. “We will ensure that the plans that are in place are implemented,” Matongo said, adding that he would carry on the work of the late Johannesburg mayor, Geoff Makhubo, and that the government had already been authorized and would only be tweaked if the elections were postponed.
Makhubo died as a result of complications from the Covid-19 virus.
“We must ensure that the issue of land invasion is addressed. The option of providing individuals with sites is on the table,” he said, adding that he would be a mayor who is on the ground with the people.
ANC regional secretary Dada Morero told the media shortly before the council meeting that the party believes Matongo is up to the role and will steer the city in the correct path for the benefit and happiness of Johannesburg citizens.
“As a seasoned public servant, Comrade Matongo has worked for the people of South Africa in a variety of capacities, including as the national trainer and project manager for the Management Schools Training Programmes during the 2001 census project. He has served as an operations manager for the City of Johannesburg’s housing department, as well as the city’s head of youth development programs and as a strategic adviser to the MMC of Finance. Comrade Matongo has been an ANC PR councillor since 2016, and in 2019 he was named MMC of Finance, a position he held until recently,” Morero stated.
Matongo possesses a certificate in public management, a postgraduate degree in public management from Unisa, and a postgraduate diploma in management from the Milpark Business School, among other qualifications. At MANCOSA, he is working on his master’s degree in public administration.
After losing Johannesburg in 2016 to a coalition led by the Democratic Alliance, the ANC declared it has good working relations with its coalition partners in the government of local unity.
“These are party relations founded on certain agreed-upon ideals that we still hold dear and to which we remain dedicated. As a result, the ANC will continue to vote with coalition partners, and the existing party agreements between us and our allies will be honored. We recognize, value, and respect their commitment to service delivery, and as a result, we are optimistic that our shared goals of stability, service delivery, and progress will be realized,” Morero added.
This comes after the government, in order to comply with the legislation, set the date for local government elections for October 27. Former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke recommended that the vote be postponed to February next year, and the government has indicated that it will support the IEC’s legal quest to do so.
Moseneke submitted a 120-page report to the IEC last month recommending that the polls be postponed because holding them in October would make them unfree and unfair because to limitations related to the Covid-19 epidemic. The report was accepted by the IEC.
The ANC has also backed the IEC, but deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte stated party structures are working on the ANC’s election agenda and candidate selection.
Duarte was giving a press conference about the results of the national working committee meeting held last week. She stated that the ANC electoral committee, led by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, is overseeing the candidate selection process. She explained that the procedure is in place to guarantee that as many people as possible vote in the elections.
“National authorities are holding interviews with candidates to fill openings for executive mayors of Johannesburg and Mangaung, in accordance with the decisions of the last NEC [national executive committee].” These procedures implement the 54th national conference’s resolutions to increase the rigor and integrity of the candidate selection process in order to ensure the deployment of appropriately qualified, skilled, and experienced members who uphold the highest values of integrity and selfless service to the people,” she said.