Propelled to the helm of South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg’s new mayor raises questions: potholes are his priority and he has appointed a businessman known to eat sushi on naked women. Thapelo Amad, 41, was until now an obscure adviser from an ultra-minority party holding a single seat in parliament. His surprise arrival at the helm of the economic capital is observed in the country as an example at the local level of what the advent of a coalition government could hold in 2024.
South Africa, ruled for nearly three decades by Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC), is holding general elections next year. Predictions predict the party will score below 50% for the first time in its history in a national ballot. Endemic unemployment, growing poverty, unbridled crime and a serious electricity crisis, with recurrent cuts for months, cause deep discontent.
Already losing ground at the polls, the ANC failed to retake Johannesburg in the 2021 local elections, which ended in a historically low score for the party. Without an absolute majority on the city council, the ANC is forced to share powers and play alliances of which Thapelo Amad is the unexpected product. The man some in the coalition call an “incompetent stopgap” would have been chosen as “transitional mayor” while the ANC negotiates a broader agreement involving other municipalities with the radical left-wing Fighters for Economic Freedom party. (EFF).
“Coalitions are becoming a reality in South African politics,” said Nthatisi Modingoane, spokesperson for the municipality where the misadventures of successive mayors are observed like the reactions of a laboratory rat to an unknown substance. The new mayor took over at the end of January from Mpho Phalatse, of the first opposition party (Democratic Alliance), ousted by a vote of no confidence.
“Sushi King”
“He’s someone who has absolutely no experience,” said Ina Gouws, from the Free State University’s Department of Politics, when interviewed by AFP. “There’s nothing about him that doesn’t make him indispensable,” said Daniel Silke, analyst at Political Futures Consultancy. After his appointment, Mr. Amad said he was “humbled” and “overwhelmed” at the responsibility that awaits him. Asked by the press about his priorities for his term, he said: “I deal with the potholes. »
In a country in a state of national disaster due to the energy crisis, his statement caused consternation. His remarks, repeated in a loop on social networks, were quickly derided. His decision to then appoint Kenny Kunene, a former prisoner and socialite known for hosting dinner parties at which he serves sushi to naked women, to transport, earning him the nickname “King of Sushi”, was also not reassuring.
The fear of the ANC in the event of a coalition is to end up with an ungovernable government. A parliamentary mission went to Denmark last year to observe a successful coalition government. But “one of the ANC’s campaign arguments for elections next year will be to tell voters that coalitions don’t work,” Mr Silke remains convinced.
