By: Staff Reporter
Former City of Joburg executive mayor Mpho Moerane has died.
His death, a week after he was involved in a car accident, was confirmed by family spokesperson Mike Maile who said the passing of the former mayor had deeply saddened the family.
Moerane was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Netcare Milpark Hospital following the accident and remained in a coma until his death today.
Moerane was elected City of Joburg executive mayor in October last year and was the ANC’s mayoral candidate in last year’s local government elections.
Moerane was also contesting the position of ANC Joburg regional chairperson in the party’s forthcoming regional conference.
The former MMC for infrastructure was nominated as the ANC’s preferred candidate to replace former mayor Jolidee Matongo who died in a car accident in September last year.
Matongo was elected just over a month earlier following the passing of Geoff Makhubo from COVID-19 complications.
In a statement, City of Joburg executive mayor Mpho Phalatse said: “It is with numbing sadness that I received the news of the passing of Councillor Mpho Moerane, the leader of the ANC Caucus and the former Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg.”
“Cllr Moerane, although seated across the isle of Council, was always eager to engage on the development of the City, and on how we as leaders in Johannesburg could collectively work to serve the interests of residents, because before all else we are servants of the people, not just party-political representatives.”
“Bitso” (my namesake) as we affectionately used to call each other, will forever hold a special place in my heart – not just as a colleague but also as someone I called a friend.
Phalatse said The City of Joburg through the Office of the Speaker “will be in contact with the Moerane family and the ANC to offer its assistance to the family as they prepare to lay Cllr Moerane in his final resting place”.
“On behalf of the Joburg Multi-Party Government, I wish to convey my heartfelt condolences to his wife, Fikile, and four children, as well as his political home, the ANC.
This is a time of collective mourning for the City and beyond,” Phalatse said.
