Matongo’s death the last straw?

WITH the sudden and tragic passing of Joburg’s mayor Jolidee Matongo on Saturday night, the ANC is facing unprecedented challenges in the lead up to the local government elections only six weeks away.

Apart from its financial woes, factionalism, ongoing revelations of ANC-related corruption scandals, the last-minute registration of election candidates – who are facing legal challenges from the DA and EFF, among others – and a reported lacklustre response ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa received on his walkabout in Soweto on Saturday, Matongo’s last public event – the death of the mayor means the ANC will now have to run the election without a local leader operating the local election machine.

Although his appointment was not without controversy, with some questioning his nationality – South African or Zimbabwean – Matongo was a clear and an automatic choice to ascend to the number one position in the city.

Apart from being Joburg mayor, Matongo was the chair of the ANC Joburg region. Before becoming the city’s number one citizen, Matongo served on the mayoral committee for finance.

In both capacities, he would have played an integral part in strategising for the upcoming elections, which are crucial to the ANC’s hold on power.

In the previous local government elections, the ANC lost control of a number of metros, with Joburg – its crown jewel – being one of them. The other metros would be Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.

Not only are these elections very important for the ANC to regain complete control of the city, they will also probably indicate the performance for the party in national general elections in two years’ time.

Whereas Matongo would have been a shoe-in candidate as he had been establishing himself as the face and leader of the Joburg ANC with the citizens of South Africa’s biggest metro following the death in July of then mayor Geoff Makhubo, now the ANC has to find a new mayoral candidate.

With only a matter of weeks to go, the party has to identify, elect and popularise the new mayoral candidate among the electorate and hope that his or her mayoral campaign resonates with the electorate.

It would be a gross understatement to say this is going to be a mammoth task for the governing party.

Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga also said the passing of Matongo was a setback for the ANC, adding that he was beginning to help stabilise the city. It was a setback, but not a huge blow, he said.

There are side shows that push speculation that his death may have been “orchestrated”, while another questions whether the Joburg mayoral position is jinxed.