EXCLUSIVE: Dada Morero recorded planning big pre-election spending — ‘We are 50 days away’

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero and his coalition are seeking to use municipal funds to push unfinished projects over the line ahead of the 4 November local government elections, backed by an expected R3-billion short-term Standard Bank loan facility.

Daily Maverick understands that Morero plans to spend the cash-strapped City’s money on highly visible projects that can be completed before voters head to the polls.

The mayor has also proposed that members of the mayoral committee (MMCs) meet without top City bosses to decide which unfinished projects should be prioritised.

In a recording of a 53-minute mayoral committee meeting on 17 September, obtained by Daily Maverick, Morero is heard telling political leaders that “we are 50 days away to an election” before outlining projects he wanted completed by late October.

He said MMCs needed to meet “alone” to “make a call on what do we really want to do with this thing”, referencing non-payment to suppliers and project backlogs. He insisted the meeting happen “without officials” so MMCs could make “political recommendations on how we want things done”.

The discussion has, however, raised serious questions about electoral political interests steering the allocation of scarce municipal funds, as well as the appropriateness of political discussions taking place separately from the municipal administration.

Election countdown

The recording shows the meeting touched on recurring delays in paying suppliers within 30 days, a point previously highlighted by the Auditor-General. Morero said the issue was serious and might require “a very different approach”.

“I think political leadership would have to meet alone,” he said.

He proposed identifying projects needing immediate completion, securing their funding, and delaying newer initiatives. He listed the social development, health and Johannesburg Development Agency projects in the Deep South, Ivory Park, and Soweto.

“What is out there in the face of the residents is uncompleted projects,” Morero said. 

“The rest of the fund, the things that we fund, they don’t see. So we might have to have a complete different discussion with political leadership now.”

Morero then brought the issue of elections explicitly into the discussion: “We are 50 days away to an election,” he said at the time.

He explicitly cited Lilian Ngoyi Street (due for completion on 30 October), two sports complexes in Ivory Park and Orange Farm, and a clinic needing a small cash injection.

“There’s also a clinic that’s short, with little money that needs to be completed,” he said.

Morero then instructed MMC for development planning Eunice Mgcina (ANC) and MMC for health and social development Ennie Makhafola (EFF) to identify outstanding projects needing small capital injections before October’s end, adding: “Let’s have that political leadership meeting. Just ourselves.”

Morero warned that political leaders would soon be unavailable as campaigning intensified. In addition, he complained that political leaders continued to make recommendations which the administration then chose to undermine.

He expressed frustration with municipal officials, saying, “It’s quite disappointing that we make recommendations and administration chooses to undermine those decisions.”

However, a senior municipal insider, speaking to Daily Maverick on the condition of anonymity, noted that while accelerating service delivery before an election was normal, setting spending priorities according to electoral visibility was problematic:

“The concern arises when the approaching end of a political term becomes a factor in deciding which projects receive scarce cash, particularly if projects are selected because they can be completed or publicly showcased before an election.”

“Municipal funds should not be administered according to which expenditure will produce the most visible result before an election,” the source said.

Questionable priorities

The proposed “political meeting” was also raised in the context of the City’s cash position. Morero suggested a dedicated “spending or a cash meeting” for MMCs alone, to dictate cash distribution, citing supplier complaints of unpaid bills stretching up to two years.

“I’m going to propose that we look at tomorrow or Thursday, just only us, to reflect on this thing, without the officials, and then we can then make political recommendations on how we want things done and then we can report to the colleagues,” he said.

That proposed separation between political leadership and the administration is at the heart of the concern raised after the meeting.  

The municipal insider warned that political leaders could not displace the statutory financial roles of the municipal manager and CFO: “An MMC-only discussion cannot become the mechanism through which operational financial decisions are effectively predetermined.”

“This becomes particularly concerning if individual MMCs are invited to identify suppliers or projects requiring payment. The municipal manager, Group CFO and delegated officials carry statutory responsibilities for municipal financial administration. Those responsibilities cannot be displaced by a political resolution.” 

“The administration should therefore be cautious of any arrangement in which the substantive decision about who gets paid is made politically,” the source said.

Morero rejects political interference claims

Morero’s spokesperson, Khathutshelo Mulaudzi, denied that politicians were taking over operational financial decisions. She said the meeting provided political guidance on sequencing budgeted projects during the weekly finance war room.

“The meeting formed part of the City’s weekly finance war room, where political leadership and officials monitor the City’s cash position, financial obligations and unfinished projects,” she told Daily Maverick. 

She asserted that meeting “without officials” was meant to let political leadership align on priorities before engaging with the administration, emphasising that “no financial decision is taken at a political meeting”.

Mulaudzi also framed the election timeline as a delivery deadline rather than a basis for political spending, maintaining that all funding and acceleration decisions had to comply with the approved budget, Integrated Development Plan and supply-chain rules. 

“The City accepts that the timing of the discussion invites scrutiny,” she said, adding that the projects mentioned were not an exhaustive list and that other unfinished projects remained in the City’s programme.

‘Control the political narrative’

During the meeting, MMC Sithembiso Zungu, from the ANC, warned of potential vandalism at a stalled solar plant in Vlakfontein, noting incoming visits from DA leadership. 

Morero urged fast political deployment to “control and own the political narrative, especially of unfinished projects”.

The source said political office-bearers could raise stalled projects and service delivery problems, but cautioned that individual political requests could not determine procurement, security appointments or the allocation of municipal funds.

Mulaudzi, however, countered that oversight aimed to provide public transparency on delays and costs rather than driving decisions through media narrative.

“Funding decisions are not made to shape a narrative,” she said.

On the broader issue that prioritising projects that could be completed or showcased before the election could amount to using municipal spending as an electoral tool, Mulaudzi said municipal money was “public money and not party money”.

Towards the end of the meeting, Morero returned to visible service delivery activity.

He urged MMCs to repair potholes in targeted regions “just to make a bit of noise” before campaign schedules took over.

Mulaudzi said the proposed separate political meeting ultimately did not occur.

The R3bn loan

The political discussions also coincided with severe cash flow pressures. Acting CFO Lufuno Mashau revealed during the meeting that backlogs across City entities totalled around R10-billion, with negative cash balances projected for September. He said that the R3-billion Standard Bank facility was intended to assist with some of those pressures.

He also said Johannesburg Water had received an additional R407-million above its 70% ringfenced allocation during August to begin addressing a backlog of close to R1-billion.

But no additional allocation was made in September because of the City’s cash flow mismatches. Mashau also supported the principle of prioritising projects that were close to completion.

“I think that makes perfect sense that we use the rest of the month of September and probably in October, prioritising those,” he said.

Morero had also explicitly linked the expected R3-billion Standard Bank short-term facility to the finishing of stalled work, saying it would “go a long way” toward addressing project backlogs. He blamed the City’s cash flow pressures partly on its decision to divert its July equitable share to deal with the Eskom loan.

But another source raised a separate concern about the proposed loan, saying the facility could not simply be treated as a pool of unrestricted cash from which political leaders selected projects or suppliers. The source warned that loan proceeds had to strictly adhere to council approvals and Section 46 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). 

“Electoral or political timing cannot replace the financial, contractual and service-delivery considerations required by law.”

However, on the R3-billion short-term Standard Bank facility, Mulaudzi said the status, terms and precise purpose of the facility still needed to be confirmed and would provide those details in writing.

Mulaudzi responded that the executive mayor held no authority to allocate loan funds and that all cash allocations remained an administrative function under the city manager and CFO.

Which projects?

The meeting turned to which projects could be pushed over the line with the limited money available.

Deputy Mayor and Finance MMC Loyiso Masuku noted in the meeting that entities such as City Power, the Johannesburg Development Agency and Joburg Water were asked to identify projects over 90% complete for “ribbon-cutting” handovers before the elections.

“We’re looking forward to walk the floor, now that you’ve committed that we will get that done because it is a request that we have been making for a while. So we look forward to that,” she said.

Morero highlighted a road project in Selby, saying hundreds of jobs could be at risk and mentioned a proposed private funding model with Calgro M3 for consideration by the mayoral committee.

DA calls for investigation

The DA has demanded an investigation, with caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku accusing Morero of trying to politically interfere in administrative functions. 

She said this raised questions about how loan funding was being allocated and whether officials were being “led astray”, potentially increasing the risk of adverse audit findings.

The DA plans to request Gauteng Cogta MEC Jacob Mamabolo to investigate potential MFMA violations, emphasising, “This is public money, not ANC money and certainly not an ANC election fund.”

Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the political timing could not be ignored, arguing that the ANC should not use the City’s administration and public money to protect its political interests. DM