THE City of Johannesburg has a new mayor, former member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for environment and infrastructure services, Mpho Moerane, who was elected on Friday morning.
Moerane said on Friday during his official address that he is “not new to the streets”, and vowed to “carry on with [the city’s] promise of service delivery, starting in Alexandra, my home.”
Moerane said he would “go on this journey with God and my ancestors as my guides”.
Moerane was elected unopposed and officially sworn in to replace former mayor Jolidee Matongo, who tragically passed away in a car accident earlier this month.
Moerane said in the 30 days that he would be in power, his main focus would be ensuring that communities received services.
He also identified providing power to the troubled Soweto township, among other areas, as one of his main goals.
“The first priority will be to deal with electricity problems in Soweto, Orange Far, Diepsloot, Ivory Park and parts of Sandton. We started having a discussion between us as the City and national government who where led by public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom CEO André de Ruyter on 18 July 2020,” said Moerane.
“We were escalating problems that have been experienced in Soweto where Eskom was disconnecting many substations which also affected paying community members … we also brought to them the issue of taking over electricity provision as the City, and Eskom accepted and approved that they must transfer all these areas with the City of Joburg to City Power.”
Matongo was honoured at the special meeting, with Gauteng Premier David Makhura saying he left behind a “political vacuum which must be cleared”.
“We need a collective of mayoral executives to attend to the housing needs of the people,” Makhura said.
Makhura added that part of the considerations that the provincial and regional ANC faced, was “that with only 30 days left until the current administration vacates its role when the local government elections take place, whether there was necessity to establish an executive committee and have a political leadership in the form of a mayor and a mayoral committee”.
“We have arrived at the conclusion that, given all the challenges, of and unstable supply of electricity that affected many party of Johannesburg, intermittent water cuts… infrastructure problems that include roads, there is a definite need for a mayor and an executive committee.”
Moerane was born in Alexandra and matriculated at Minerva High School. Apart from completing an electrician course, he also holds a project management certificate.
He is married to Fikile – an IT and financial services consultant. They live in Bryanston with their four children.
Moerane is a qualified electrician who worked at Eskom until 2006 before venturing into entrepreneurship full-time.
Before joining the city council, Moerane – who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and has an interest in the hospitality industry – ran his own restaurant business.
He also served on the boards of Metro Bus, Alexandra Clinic and as a non-executive director for Chancellor House Holdings.
Moerane is the ANC Johannesburg’s regional treasurer.
- Inside Politics
