THE newly-elected City of Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo on Wednesday announced his 10-member mayoral committee.
Matongo, an ANC councillor and the former MMC of Finance in the metro, replaces Geoff Makhubo, who had been in office since the end of 2019 but died of COVID-19 complications last month.
The new list of MMCs, which was a result of consultations with the ongoing Government of Local Unity (GLU) partnership in the City, contains no surprises as most members remain unchanged in the portfolios they were assigned by Makhubo.
“The choice of MMCs is in support of the theme of continuation with the implementation of the GLU’s priorities, which are aligned to the Joburg Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) 2040,” said the city in a statement.
Meanwhile, City of Joburg Speaker Nonceba Molwele has dismissed remarks that the metro’s new mayor is a foreign national.
During his acceptance speech as a nominee at the special council meeting on Tuesday, Matongo declared that he was the son of a migrant from Zimbabwe.
Matongo added that his late father’s remains were buried at Avalon Cemetery in Soweto.
The ANC in Joburg has also dismissed allegations doing the rounds in social media platforms that Matongo was a foreigner.
“The ANC has noted the social media malicious afro-phobic campaign against the People’s Mayor of Johannesburg titled: “#WeRejectMayorOfJHB”. This hashtag is generally led by faceless people and therefore does not represent the people of Johannesburg. Based on our investigation, these are politically aligned paid-up tweets to purport aspersions on the Executive Mayor through propaganda that seeks to mislead society and characterise the Executive Mayor as a foreigner in his motherland,” the ANC’s regional secretary Dada Morero said in a statement.
“The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Jolidee Matongo, is a 46-year-old born and bred in Dube Soweto, South African. He commenced his schooling career at Sizanani Primary School, where his political activism started, ignited by a love for justice, opposed to the fascist apartheid regime. To this end, we call upon public servants, the residents of Johannesburg and all sectors of society to work with the appointed Mayoral Committee led by Executive Mayor Matongo to deliver services
and better the lives of the people of Johannesburg.”
Here are the city’s MMCs:
- MMC of finance: Matshidiso Mfikoe
- MMC of economic development: Thomas Mofokeng
- Environment and infrastructure services department MMC: Mpho Moerane (unchanged)
- Housing MMC: Mlungisi Mabaso (unchanged)
- Transport MMC: Helen Makhuba (unchanged)
- Health and social development MMC: Eunice Mgcina (unchanged)
- Group corporate shared services MMC: Loyiso Masuku (unchanged)
- Community development MMC: Margaret Arnolds (unchanged)
- Development planning MMC: Thapelo Amad (unchanged)
- Public safety MMC: Mally Mokoena (unchanged)
- Inside Politics
