Adamant: ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says that Democratic Alliance federal chair Helen Zille should not be mayor of Johannesburg because she does not have black people’s interests at heart. Photo: ActionSA
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has come out guns blazing against Democratic Alliance (DA) federal chair Helen Zille, who claims black people live better in areas governed by her party.
Mashaba has vowed to block Zille from becoming Joburg mayor next year, saying she did not have the interests of black people at heart.
He said that, when he was mayor of Joburg, Zille was opposed to him providing services to poor communities, claiming they did not pay taxes or vote for the party.
Zille believed that she was doing black people a favour by providing services to them, he said, and added that they would not allow Zille to be the mayor of Johannesburg.
Two months ago, Zille was announced as the party’s DA mayoral candidate.
ActionSA has yet to announce its mayoral candidate for the city.
“Hell no, it’s not going to happen. We are going to let the people of Johannesburg know the kind of person Helen Zille is, because Helen Zille is the kind of person that believes that, in the provision of services to black communities, she’s doing us a favour,” Mashaba told Mail & Guardian.
He argues that the inequalities between rich and poor in the Western Cape are there for everyone to see, saying that South Africans, black or white, cannot afford to stay in the city centre.
“Tell me, can South Africans, black and white, afford to live in Cape Town, the city centre?
“In Johannesburg, when I was the mayor, I went on a massive inner-city rejuvenation [drive], and I made it a condition that 30% of the units must be for low-income groups, and the private sector supported it.
“That’s why, of 154 properties that we awarded to the private sector, we were oversubscribed.
“But that’s not something that Helen Zille and the DA are applying in Cape Town. They leave everything to the market forces.”
In a video clip on X, Mashaba said that, during his time as a mayor, Zille and the DA wanted him to service suburban areas and cut grass in Sandton and neglect poor and neglected communities.
He had discussed with the federal executive of the party that secret meetings with the party were being held to remove him.
“Unfortunately, the DA at the time under Mmusi [Maimane], realised that I’m not prepared to compromise myself and I’m not going to embarrass myself to face a motion of no confidence. That is when I came out to say, “If Helen Zille comes back, I am out.”
Mashaba said despite the fact that he was 66 years old, when Zille sees him, she sees a boy, saying “she doesn’t see a man”.
Former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalase has backed Zille’s comments that black South Africans received better services where the DA governs.
“Yes, I do agree from the point of view that the DA does deliver when it is in government.
“When the DA is in government, it focuses on the work of governing, but when the ANC is in government, I’m not sure where the focus is, but we often don’t see the results on the ground, whether a black area or a white area,” Phalatse said.
On Tuesday, Zille told journalists that black people get the best opportunities, access to the best public transport and other benefits in DA-governed areas.
She said it is far better for a poor person to end up in a DA administration because they can climb the ladder out of poverty.
“That is why the DA policies benefit the vast majority of poor black people and turn off the taps to the corrupt ANC elite who rob the poor to enrich themselves, to enrich the party …”
These sentiments, however, have not been shared by the black communities that the DA governs. This includes the Western Cape, where the party has been accused of prioritising affluent suburbs and neglecting townships where black people primarily reside.
The opinion was shared by Tshwane residents, where the party was in charge of the municipality for eight years.
Last week, the DA announced that it would table a motion in parliament to scrap the broad-based black economic empowerment policy and replace it with its Public Procurement Inclusive Bill.
It said it would lobby other parties, including its government of national unity partner, the ANC, to vote to support its bill.
However, the ANC has described the scrapping of the BBBEE as “mad”, “nonsense” and “unconstitutional”.
The broad-based BEE policy allows for preferential treatment in government procurement processes for businesses that contribute to black economic empowerment, as measured by criteria including partial or majority black ownership, hiring black employees and contracting with black-owned suppliers.
On Tuesday, the DA unveiled a billboard in Johannesburg, calling for BBBEE to come to an end.
Zille argued that the BBBEE legalities are corrupt.
At the same time, the party’s deputy federal chairperson, Ivan Meyer described broad-based BEE as state-sponsored corruption, theft and fraud by “cadres”, designed to enrich only a few politically connected people.
“Are we saying black people are corrupt by tackling BBBEE? The answer is absolutely no.
“Every company that wants to invest in South Africa has to give out a third of its company to the ANC elites before they can even begin,” Zille told journalists in Randburg on Tuesday.
She argued this does not empower anyone but those who have been empowered over and over again.
Zille said the policy results in the investment not coming at all, adding that this is why there has been no investment in mining, as people are not prepared to cooperate with corruption.
“If you pass a law that says contracts of the state must go in this way to a particular colour of people, then people will make sure that they can rig the system to benefit their friends and allies to get a big kickback.”
Mashaba has agreed with Zille that BBBEE does not work but said the bill proposed by the DA would also not work.