Morero ready to serve as ordinary councillor if ANC picks another mayoral candidate

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero says he is prepared to serve as an ordinary councillor if the ANC does not announce him as the party's mayoral candidate.

Morero spoke to journalists after casting his vote at Laerskool Roodekrans in Roodepoort on Tuesday morning.

"I'm number four on the list. If the ANC gets more votes for PR, it means I will make it into council, whether I'm mayor or not. I've been deployed by the ANC and I must carry out the mandate as instructed by my party. So, I will be in council and if I'm in the opposition benches, I'll be sitting there."

The ANC is yet to announce its mayoral candidates across the country's municipalities.

In Johannesburg, the party announced Morero, Deputy Mayor Loyiso Masuku and Frank Chikane as its three shortlisted candidates for the top post.

Insiders say one of the reasons the ANC decided not to announce its mayoral candidates across municipalities was that it wanted to prevent members from leaving the party or refusing to vote if their preferred mayoral candidate was not selected for the position.

The party continues to battle internal divisions. Its deployees in local government have been blamed for failing to provide basic services in their municipal districts, while recent polls have predicted that the ANC's support could decline in this election.

Morero said his party had done a lot of campaigning over the past eight months and its support base remained strong. He said he believed the ANC would come back stronger.

He said the party had done everything possible to convince voters and it was now up to them to turn up at voting stations and "do the right thing".

"There will always be challenges in local government and there is no time when there are no specific challenges. In essence, Johannesburg remains one of the cities that is well run.

"People must come out and vote to exercise their rights because it is through governance structures that we put in place, voted for by the majority, that we will be able to look after the interests of communities."

ANC insiders had also predicted that a lower voter turnout would benefit opposition parties, especially the Democratic Alliance, whose supporters are less likely to stay away from voting.

"The more voters we get out, the better. In fact, for the ANC, especially in our strongholds, voters must come out in their numbers to secure us another mandate to continue the work that we have demonstrated in the short time of two years, showing that we can do more and do it better,” Morero said.

"Local government has been structured in such a way that communities can participate fully in the life of the municipality."

The city is facing water challenges, with some residents having gone for weeks without water. Service delivery issues and electricity cuts also remain a problem.

Morero told journalists that some of the water challenges were caused by extreme weather conditions, which had resulted in increased water consumption.

However, some residents have blamed sabotage as one of the reasons the city continues to struggle with water and electricity supply.

"I wouldn't want to venture into conspiracy theories. All I know is that, in terms of our infrastructure, there have been a lot of [incidents], whether it's sabotage or vandalism," Morero said.

"Just four days ago, somebody went to our central sub-station and cut the wires and left. They didn't take anything and we had to replace those wires so that we could restore electricity."

He said there had also been instances where water valves were deliberately closed by people who were not authorised by the city.

"We had to investigate and we found out that the valves had been closed and that there were no instructions from Johannesburg Water to close them."