The mayor of Johannesburg has gone out swinging against the previous administration.
The city of Johannesburg’s new multi-party coalition claims to have successfully reversed a R59 million annual staff salary cost.
Mpho Phalatse, the DA’s current Joburg mayor, claims the wage bill was an attempt by the previous ANC administration to “hijack political office.”
The mayor accuses the ANC government of supporting a Mayoral committee report that attempted to “illegally convert” contract workers in political offices into permanent personnel, according to a statement posted by Phalatse’s office.
This would then see the staff wage bill in the city stand at R59 million per annum.
Phalatse says that it is universally accepted that staff in political offices are linked to the term of the elected officials.

“The previous administration’s intention to permanently employ their own in these term-based
offices is nothing more than an application of cadre deployment, a vile practice that featured
prominently as an instrument of State Capture.”
City of Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse

The current administration in the metro says it has managed to reverse that changeover. And according to Phalatse, the ANC’s move meant that her new administration was unable to appoint its own political officials.

“It is no brainer that a political strategy and programme that is driven by officials who do not
share the same values as the multi-party government will have far-reaching implications for
good governance and service delivery. This is untenable and it proves that the ANC wanted to
increase its political footprint in the Municipality.”

The administration also points to the incoming regulation from National Treasury. The regulation takes effect later this year. It says that political staff should be on a fixed-term contract with a 30-day exit clause in case there is a change in administration.