Newly elected Johannesburg executive mayor Clr Herman Phillip Mashaba declared corruption public enemy number one shortly after he was announced as the new mayor of Joburg.
Clr Mashaba said when South Africa achieved its democracy in 1994, he was convinced that the days of suffering for black people were over.
“I was wrong,” the 57-year-old veteran businessman said on Monday night at the Johannesburg City Hall, where he defeated African National Congress mayoral candidate Clr Parks Tau for the position of mayor by 19 votes. He received 144 votes to former executive mayor Tau’s 125.
“Twenty-two years into our freedom, black people in Alexandra still live in squalor. As of tonight, I declare corruption public enemy number one in the City of Johannesburg,” he said shortly after he was announced as mayor.
“My team and I will leave no stone unturned. We will search and sniff for corruption. No more job for pals, friends, girlfriends and boyfriends, and family and relatives. That is history now. We will be doing employment auditing. The tender system is going to have a new meaning under my watch. The public purse is going to be guarded and the residents are going to be our bosses,” the mayor said.
Clr Mashaba’s story starts in the poor village of GaRamotse, in Hammanskraal, about 30km outside Pretoria. He was raised by his mother, who earned a living as a domestic worker.
His father died when he was only two years old. He had to work his way up to becoming one of South Africa’s influential and wealthiest business people.
“I was not the one to let my surroundings determine what kind of future I was going to have. I knew there was a better and richer world waiting out there for me and I was determined to find it,” he said.
In the early 1980s he attempted a BA degree at the University of the North (now the University of Limpopo) but unrest cut short his studies.
Then a job at a Spar supermarket dissuaded him from leaving the country to swell the ranks of the then liberation organisations.
“I worked very briefly for another person. Soon I was able to buy myself a car. I started to think business.”
He then started selling various products from the boot of his car.
“I sold anything, from insurance policies to fire detection systems, linen, crockery and dinner sets,” he said.
His break came late in 1983 when he sold hair products on a commission basis for a company in Johannesburg.
“After two years selling that, I decided it was time my wife, Connie, and I started our own haircare-manufacturing business,” he said.
In 1985 the first bottle of Black Like Me products hit the market. He served as the company’s CEO until January 2004.
He has resigned his position as chairman of the Free Market Foundation to pursue a career in politics. He is the author of two books, Black Like Me and Capitalist Crusader.
He and his wife have two children, Khensani and Rhulani. He plays golf and tennis when he finds the time. He supports both Soweto soccer rivals Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.
