AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A councilor from a small Muslim party has been elected mayor of Johannesburg after months of political maneuvering and legal battles for control of South Africa’s biggest metropolis.
Thapelo Amad, of the Al Jama-ah party, was voted in by the city council to replace mayor Mpho Phalatse, a member of South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Amad, 41, said he was “humbled” and “overwhelmed” at being the first Muslim to helm the country’s biggest metropolis.
“It marks history in South Africa,” he told the council after the vote.
He promised to make the fight against corruption his top priority.
Amad was elected with the support of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party, which holds the most seats in the council but fell short of an outright majority at the 2021 city elections.
Amad’s appointment came as a surprise, with Al Jama-ah holding only three of the council’s 270 seats, and follows months of coalition horse-trading.
His predecessor, Phalatse, 45, was removed in a vote of no-confidence earlier this week.
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