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Thapelo Amad names Joburg mayoral committee, with 5 of the 8 members from ANC

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Al Jama-ah's Thapelo Amad has officially been sworn in as the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg.


Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad has officially been sworn in as the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg.

PHOTO: Papi Morake, Gallo Images

  • Five of the eight new Joburg mayoral committee members are from the ANC.
  • Two more will be announced on Friday, once they become councillors.
  • The positions for transport, and health and social development are yet to be named.

The ANC took the lion’s share of positions on the Johannesburg mayoral committee. 

The newly-elected mayor, Thapelo Amad, on Thursday released eight of the 10 names on his new committee.

Five of the eight are from the ANC.

He said the remaining two members needed to be sworn in as councillors before they could become mayoral committee members.

Amad confirmed that the deputy president of the Patriotic Alliance (PA), Kenny Kunene, would become a councillor. 

It was unclear which of the eight PA members Kunene would replace.

READ | Day of high drama in Joburg council as Mpho Phalatse voted out as mayor

It is likely that Kunene will be handed the transport portfolio. 

The other position of health and social development is apparently earmarked for the EFF’s Ennie Makhafola. 

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);
  • Community Development: Lubabalo Magwentshu (ATM)

Amad said the mayoral committee members were selected after “extensive consultations with the other political parties”. 

The Johannesburg government, led by Amad, is calling itself the Government of Local Unity (GLU). 

The mayor said the consultations were done with the aim of solidifying the GLU partnership.  

Kunene, 52, started his political career in July 2013 when he joined the newly formed EFF as part of its Central Command Team. He resigned a month later.  

In November that year, he joined the newly formed PA as secretary-general.  

Kunene is best known as a wealthy businessman who made headlines in October 2010, when he threw a birthday party at which his guests, including Julius Malema, ate sushi from the bodies of naked women. 

This earned him the moniker “The Sushi King”. 


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