After the latest vote of no confidence against Mpho Phlatse, South Africa’s richest metro now has a new mayor. Abu Bakr Thapelo Amad from the Al-Jamah party was duly elected the executive mayor of Johannesburg on January 27. Amad’s party only has three seats in council. However he was elected to the position with support from the African National Congress and Economic Freedom Fighters amongst others.
In 2019, The Daily Vox team spoke to Amad ahead of the national elections about his party’s plans. He was a councillor at the time. This is what he had to say.
“We are predominantly targeting the Gauteng province for expansion,” Amad said. Al Jam-ah sees the coalition government governing the main metros in the province as “an open gap for us to participate”, he said.
Seeing that the party is not in any form of a coalition in Gauteng, Al Jama-ah is able to influence legislation. While bigger parties spar, Al Jama-ah focuses on results, Amad said. “When we throw a motion, it passes through. Whichever niche we find in a community, we take the issue, we exploit it and push it into legislation and get the maximum result,” he said.
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After being elected mayor, Amad said: “
Taking the podium for the first time as the executive mayor, Amad said: “Today I humbly request that you all hold my hand as we purposefully unite to address the pressing challenges bedevilling our city. We must accept that as this administration, we will not be able to achieve much if we do not work with broader society. We must foster partnerships and where they exist, we must strengthen them.”
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