Al Jama-ah says Joburg mayor acted in bad faith by firing Gwamanda

JOHANNESBURG - Al Jama-ah says Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero acted unilaterally and in bad faith by removing its councillor, Kabelo Gwamanda, from his mayoral committee.

On Sunday, Morero fired Gwamanda as MMC for Community Development. 

Gwamanda has an ongoing court case where he is accused of defrauding people in a funeral police scam.  

Gauteng Al Jama-ah leader Thapelo Amad said the party was blindsided by the decision, as coalition partners were still discussing the matter at provincial level.  

"However, there were never further consultations between us and the ANC [African National Congress] because matters were still being ventilated, so we hadn’t concluded that process. I think the executive mayor, in his powers, has taken a unilateral decision. However, I think he was supposed to have waited for the outcome of the process and the outcome of the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority]," said Amad. 

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The party said it had no intention of deserting the former Joburg mayor, now been relegated to an ordinary PR councillor.

Following his sacking as MMC, ActionSA in Johannesburg called on Al Jama-ah to replace him as councillor.  

However, Amad said Gwamanda was innocent until proven guilty.  

"If the court of law finds him guilty, that’s when the party will take that drastic decision. At this stage, there isn’t anything that is binding for us, and we will never wait to be told by the opposition which finds an opportunistic element for us to crucify one of our members," Amad said.