Mashaba could face off against Zille for Joburg mayor

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba could emerge as his party’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg in next year’s local government elections, setting up a potential battle against the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Helen Zille to take charge of the country’s troubled economic hub.

Mashaba told the Mail & Guardian this week that if ActionSA cannot find a suitable candidate, he is willing to take up the mantle and fight to reclaim the position he held from August 2016 to late 2019 under the DA banner, until he resigned from both the post and the party over ideological differences.

“If I can’t find another Dr Nasiphi Moya in Johannesburg and the structures and people of Johannesburg want me to stand, I will stand, but give us a chance to look for other talent within the ActionSA structure,” Mashaba said, referring to the ActionSA mayor in Tshwane.

“In the event we don’t find someone on time, I will stand but we need to be given the space to look for another person. If it does call on me to take over the job, I will do it.”

Two weeks ago, the DA announced federal chairperson Zille as its mayoral candidate in Johannesburg in next year’s elections, while the Patriotic Alliance (PA) will be represented by Kenny Kunene.

Soon after, Zille went on a charm offensive in Johannesburg, promising to fix its numerous service delivery problems, including a water crisis that has left many suburbs dry for weeks and even months on end. 

In addition, the city’s roads are riddled with potholes and traffic lights that are not working, while the inner city is failing to maintain law and order, with dilapidated buildings and infrastructural decay turning Africa’s richest city into an eyesore. 

It has recently seen a wave of violent protests from residents demanding an end to their water woes, largely blamed on old, decaying infrastructure which has resulted in constant leakages. 

“I want a great country that can fulfil her own promise and South Africa can be the best country in the world. I was born in Johannesburg, I was raised in Johannesburg, I went to school, university and got my driver’s license in Johannesburg. I’m still a daughter of Johannesburg. If we can’t get Johannesburg right, we can’t get South Africa right,” Zille said in an interview with the M&G.

It is still not clear who former president Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party will field, but former Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi has been touted as its favourite candidate.

Despite not announcing its own candidate, Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is likely to select the current Johannesburg MMC for public safety, Mgcini Tshwaku.

ActionSA was launched just before the 2021 local government election and received significant support, becoming the third biggest party in the Johannesburg municipality. There was an expectation amongst residents that Mashaba would take over as mayor of the city following his previous tenure.

As DA mayor, Mashaba pushed hard for the removal of undocumented foreign nationals living in the inner city, enforcing by-laws as well as the expropriation of so-called hijacked buildings and turning them into low-cost housing, moves which made him popular with residents of the city of gold.

He exited the party in protest against the election of Zille as federal council chair, saying this and the behaviour of “anti-poor” elements in the DA caucus in Johannesburg had forced him to choose between the party and the country.

This week Mashaba said people should not think that he is the only capable person to lead the government in ActionSA, as there were many others capable of doing so.

“I was accused in Tshwane by the DA that we removed Cilliers Brink so I could take over as mayor, but look at Tshwane now under Dr Nasiphi Moya, look at what she has achieved working with our coalition partners,” he said.

“As a black person, it gives me pride because we’re not about experiments, we’re about giving black people an opportunity. ActionSA is not going to follow what the DA does, we will announce our candidates at our own time, as and when we are ready. We will announce Johannesburg and Tshwane way before the elections.”

Some Tshwane residents have applauded Moya for the work they say she has done in the capital, although the DA has accused her of taking credit for progress made under Brink.

Despite the public applause of Moya’s performance from some quarters, this week Mashaba said the party would also take its time to decide on a 2026 mayoral candidate for Tshwane. 

ActionSA is also set to announce its Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate on Saturday in Tembisa.

“I’m announcing another [example of] black excellence, a real diamond, a real gem, and South Africa is going to be proud. We are proud as black people with the work that Dr Nasiphi Moya is doing in Tshwane,” he said.

Mashaba said ActionSA’s decision to work with the “racist” DA following the 2021 elections had affected his party negatively going into next year’s vote.

“For us, we were concerned about ANC corruption and thought that the DA was an alternative. Unfortunately, we did not realise how scared voters are of the DA and we understand why they are so scared of the DA,” Mashaba said. 

Before the relationship between ActionSA and the DA in Gauteng broke down, the parties had worked together in metros in the province to reduce the influence of governments of local unity led by the ANC.

But after the DA’s Mpho Phalatse was ousted as Johannesburg mayor, the party refused to vote in support of ActionSA’s candidate Funzi Ngobeni despite having the numbers to make him mayor. 

In Tshwane, the DA refused to support an ActionSA speaker and chose to abstain from voting. The bickering resulted in Mncedi Ndzwanana from the African Transformation Movement being elected as speaker in the capital. 

The DA did this knowing that it would be difficult for Mashaba to jump ship and work with the ANC as he had vowed that his party would never co-govern with a party it viewed as a criminal organisation.

Things took a turn last year when ActionSA opted to work with the ANC and EFF in Johannesburg and Tshwane, which saw Brink being booted out in favour of Moya.

This week Mashaba said it is important for ActionSA to distance itself from the DA and that it would only negotiate coalitions after elections. “What we are saying as ActionSA is that we have really learned a lesson that people who decide who must coalesce are voters, not us,” he said.

“I can not really be arrogant if I say I can not work with the ANC or the DA or MK. I can tell you the voters are the ones ultimately responsible for making a decision and we will respect it.”

He added that his party would only work in a coalition with parties that are committed to providing equitable public service to all communities regardless of the predominant race in the areas.

“We know that the DA does not want to provide services to black communities, I tell from experience and hard evidence. They refused (in) the three years I was the mayor in the City of Johannesburg,” he said.

“They refused when they were reliant on our support in Tshwane from 2021. When we gave them our vote but when we said we need services in Mamelodi, Atteridgeville and Hammanskraal, they refused and that’s why we ended up removing them.”

Mashaba said before committing to a coalition ActionSA would also stipulate that parties commit to fighting corruption which he said must be declared public enemy number one.

“Lastly, any political party that wants to support illegal foreigners, please don’t come and talk to us because for us, people who come into our country illegally, we consider them as criminals as they have broken the laws of our country,” he said.

“If you take the DA, ANC and EFF, they support illegality and for us a ActionSA, if you don’t believe in the rule of law, then don’t come and talk to us.”