City of Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has apologised after telling a Tshepisong resident, “O buwa masepa,” during a heated electricity imbizo in the Roodepoort township on Thursday.
The Sesotho insults, which means “you are talking shit”, was directed at the resident during the tense meeting at a packed venue of that township situated west of Joburg.
The confrontation took place at the Abundant Faith Christian Centre, where residents had gathered for an engagement led by the city’s power utility, City Power.
Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Jack Sekwaila, City Power acting CEO Charles Tlouane and several other officials were also present.
The meeting was convened amid growing concerns from residents and local councillors over electricity challenges in Tshepisong.
City Power previously withdrew its technical restoration and maintenance services in the area, citing several challenges affecting its electricity network.
These included low electricity vending rates, widespread illegal connections, vandalism, sabotage, tampering and resistance to the utility’s network normalisation process.
The purpose of Thursday’s imbizo was to hear residents’ concerns and provide an update on measures being implemented to improve electricity services.
The meeting became increasingly tense as residents expressed their anger over the impact of the electricity problems on the community.
The situation escalated when Morero confronted a resident who allegedly called him a criminal.
A video of the confrontation, which has since circulated widely on social media, shows Morero objecting to the allegation.
“Don’t call me a criminal. What are you saying? Don’t call me a criminal. No, I am not a criminal,” Morero says in the footage.
He then warned the resident not to repeat the accusation.
“Don’t ever do that again. Don’t ever do that again. You are old. Don’t do that again. I’m not a criminal.”
Morero continued: “Don’t say that again. No, don’t say it again.”
Residents can be heard shouting as the confrontation continued, with some appearing to defend the resident.
Morero then responded angrily, telling the resident: “O buwa masepa,” which means “you are talking shit”.
He repeated the remark as the noise from residents continued inside the venue.
“If you can’t respect other people, we will also not respect you. We have the same capacity as yours,” Morero said.
He later attributed the tense start to the meeting to the resident’s alleged remark.
“We started off on the wrong foot because of this man’s comment,” he said.
The mayor’s comments have since attracted mixed reactions on social media.
Some users criticised Morero’s conduct, while others pointed to the frustration among residents over persistent electricity and service-delivery problems.
Morero later apologised for the way he conducted himself during the meeting.
“During the course of the meeting, emotions went high between myself and one of the participants and I would like to profusely and unconditionally apologise for my utterances which were made this morning at the meeting,” he said.
The mayor accepted responsibility for his conduct and acknowledged that he should have handled the situation differently.
“It should not have been done in that fashion, and I do take full responsibility. Over and above, I did have a word or two with the resident concerned and the meeting accepted my apology,” he said.
“I do apologise for the conduct of that meeting and thank you,” Morero added.
