Embattled Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. File photo: X
The ANC member who has filed court papers challenging the legitimacy of the Johannesburg regional conference has denied being instructed by Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero to do so on his behalf, insisting that he was not his “ball boy”.
Stanley Itshegetseng has given the ANC until Wednesday to respond to his concerns about the legitimacy of the regional conference, which took place from 3 to 5 December 2025.
At the conference, Morero lost to the current regional chairperson, Loyiso Masuku.
Since the election outcome, those who lost at the conference have raised allegations of vote-buying and claimed that the election company rigged the conference in favour of the winning slate.
Ballots of additional members, which were meant to be kept safe, were found opened at the house of the presiding officer in January. The ANC has opened a case on the matter.
Some ANC insiders have accused Itshegetseng of being used by Morero to fight the outcomes of the conference. He works as an adviser to the chief of staff in Morero’s office and is known to be a staunch supporter of the mayor.
“People are undermining me. I am a comrade in my own right,” he told the Mail & Guardian on Monday. “I went as a delegate to the conference, not because of Dada’s ticket — I was elected by my branch to go to the conference. The communication that I sent to the ANC was from me and not Dada. Why would people reduce me to a ball boy of Dada and not see me as a comrade?
“By the way, I work for Dada. This year alone, I spoke to Dada twice. The first time it was for less than a minute. The last time, which was last week, I spoke to him for three minutes. When I communicate with Dada, I send him text messages and most of the time he does not respond.”
Itshegetseng said those who had a problem with Morero should not use his name to fight their battle to remove him as mayor.
Over the weekend, a few hours after Itshegetseng filed his court papers, the ANC in Johannesburg held a special regional executive committee (REC) meeting to discuss Itshegetseng’s application.
However, a source close to the matter said the meeting had ended up focusing on the possible removal of Morero as executive mayor. The source said the REC had resolved that he should be recalled as mayor of Johannesburg.
“If people have beef with Dada, they must take the beef to Dada and not reduce me to Dada’s boy. I am older than Dada, by the way. I can’t be his ball boy. People are undermining my political credibility.
“When we went to the regional conference, I was not running Dada’s campaign — I was far from it. Why would people want to reduce me to being Dada’s ball boy? I support him, yes, but you don’t find me around him like I’m his ball boy.
“Do I have beef with him? No. Do I revere and respect him? Yes, I revere and respect him as a leader who I think is capable in Johannesburg currently. But I don’t have orders or instructions from him.”
In his court papers, which the M&G has seen, Itshegetseng wants the court to interdict the REC from making any decisions of binding force, including caucus directions, disciplinary actions, branch and regional administration or public political programming, pending finalisation of the matter.
He also wants the ANC to take all necessary steps to arrange for the reconstitution of the regional conference with the same delegates who attended the December 2025 conference to elect new leadership.
Itshegetseng said that on 17 December 2025 he had raised disputes about the conference and according to party rules, the ANC should have responded within 14 days but that had not happened.
He said he had exhausted every internal recourse on the matter and that the party had failed to act. He added that he was a grounded ANC member and did not want to drag the party to court.
“When I sent the letter to my relevant leadership in the province, I copied my REC and BEC [branch executive committee] on 17 December. There had been no response. I then wrote another letter towards the end of February to give them 24 hours to at least acknowledge receipt,” he said.
There had been no response and a week later, he had advised his lawyer to write a letter demanding that the ANC respond to his letter.
“Again, there was no response. We waited another week before we made the legal submission to the court through the sheriff. The ANC had a window of opportunity to engage us by 17 March. If they fail, on the 18th we are going to court on an urgent application.”
If he won the case and the conference was declared illegitimate, his concern was what would happen to the drastic changes the REC continued to make.
“My position is that there is a complaint about the standing and legitimacy of the conference. There are ballot papers which were found where they were not supposed to be. They were supposed to be in the custody of the ANC but were found lying in a house somewhere. Such things affect the legitimacy of the conference itself.
