When Herman Mashaba was the DA’s mayor of Johannesburg, he won fans in different areas and for different reasons.
For the DA’s white suburban base, Mashaba was the guy who got things done – fixed potholes and kept the lights on.
Residents in the city’s townships also bought into his borderline xenophobic approach on illegal foreigners. If he decides to throw his hat into the ring in the mayoral race in the upcoming local government elections, he will be a formidable contestant.
He hasn’t committed himself yet, but has left the door open, having announced that ActionSA –the party he formed after his departure from the DA some years ago – had selected candidates for Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
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Mashaba also claimed to have been approached by former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko – another of the “black wounded” who left the DA – to run as ActionSA’s candidate for Joburg.
Interestingly, Mazibuko outright denied she had done anything of the kind. If Mashaba does commit to the Joburg race, he will have to go toe-to-toe with Helen Zille, the equally formidable DA candidate.
She has a track record of achievement, both as mayor of Cape Town and premier of the Western Cape.
Voters of all stripes in the supposed City of Gold want change, and even though many are not fans of the DA or Zille, she looks like the best of a bad bunch. In Zille’s favour is the current ANC record of failure across the country and the self-evident collapse of Johannesburg.
Mashaba won’t have done his prospects any good with the DA’s white suburban supporters by converting his bitterness against the DA into repeatedly playing the race card.
But, whoever wins, they’re going to have to park the politics and get to work saving our city.
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