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- Ten members of the Johannesburg executive were sworn in on Monday.
- Mayor Thapelo Amad announced the mayoral committee a week after he was sworn in.
- Ashley Sauls, who gave up his seat so Kenny Kunene could become a member of the mayoral committee, will be the Beaufort West mayor.
Johannesburg has a new executive as the 10 mayoral committee members were sworn in on Monday.
This comes a week after the new executive mayor, Thapelo Amad, was sworn in.
The event was attended by various party leaders.
Speaker Colleen Makhubele said she woke up feeling excited because Johannesburg had such a "unique" government "with all parties holding hands... to help our citizens”.
Makhubele said there were no coalitions in the city, just different parties that were all working together.
She also announced that Ashley Sauls, a former Joburg councillor and Patriotic Alliance (PA) member, was to become the new Beaufort West mayor.
Sauls gave up his post to accommodate the PA deputy president Kenny Kunene, paving the way for Kunene’s election as a mayoral committee member.
Before each new mayoral committee member was sworn in, Makhubele told the new executive that they would meet people who were broken in the city, and communities who were devastated.
“If you can’t help them, then at least don’t hurt them.”
To Amad she said: “Please remember the survival of the city depends on you and your team.”
The new mayoral committee members are as follows:
Finance: Dada Morero (ANC);
Group Corporate and Shared Services: Loyiso Masuku (ANC);
Environment and Infrastructure Services: Jack Sekwaila (ANC);
Public Safety: Sepetlele Raseruthe (EFF);
Development Planning: Eunice Mgcina (ANC);
Economic Development: Nomoya Daphney Mnisi (ANC);
Housing: Anthea Natasha Leitch (PA);
Transport: Kenny Kunene (PA);
Community Development: Lubabalo Magwentshu (ATM); and
Health and Social Development Ennie Makhafola (EFF)
In his speech, Amad said he and the new team would take the city to “the next level”, creating a “truly inclusive city where the residents and city officials would work together".
He told the executives that active engagement with residents required “competent and inspirational leadership”.
“We must go back and get the basics right," he said, mentioning stabilising the city’s finances and ensuring grass is cut and potholes are filled.
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Speaking off-the-cuff for the first time since he became mayor, Amadsaid the dire water situation was exacerbated by load shedding.
He stumbled on the names of the Eikenhof and Zuikerbosch purification plants, which suffered a power outage and affected Rand Water’s ability to provide sufficient water to the city, and then joked: “Maybe we should change those names – they are hard to pronounce.”
Since being sworn in, Amad has received flack for the delivery of his speeches, but Monday saw a more relaxed mayor.
Amad turned down media queries after the ceremony, saying there first needed to be a briefing with his new executive.
