The DA hosted a meeting at Michaelangelo Hotel in Sandton to introduce voters to the party’s mayoral candidate, Herman Mashaba.
The meeting, which was well attended by a diverse group of residents from both Sandton and Alexandra, was a great opportunity to learn more about what motivates Mashaba.
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Speaking to attendees, Mashaba said, “I have taken this responsibility on not as a politician. In Africa, the term politician is associated with corruption, self-centered politics and self-serving individuals.
“I am not a politician as the press points out, and I am happy with the fact that they are spot on. I am pledging to you that I am committing my life to this job, to be a public servant and that is what I want to be known as.”
Mashaba further motivated why he did not consider himself a politician and stated, “I am not here to steal a single cent. I am not here to see people suffering. One in three people in Johannesburg are unemployed. [Almost] 750 people lost their jobs today alone. StatsSA can back these figures up.”
He informed the voters about some of the human rights issues he had dealt with and said, “In the six months of my campaign, I have laid eight cases of human rights violations against the government. I will use every last cent of my own money to take this to the UN [United Nations] if the government ignores it. Ten minutes from here, people don’t have toilets, water or electricity. People have given up.”
Mashaba has observed many hardships faced by the people in Alexandra.
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“A few weeks ago I was in Alexandra in a transit camp. A camp that was established seven years ago and which is still there. There was a young black woman in her 30s and I spoke to her about the fact there are no toilets. I asked her how she manages. She said, ‘You know I have actually trained myself to only go to the toilet at work’.”
According to the DA mayoral candidate, in terms of crime, the City has a responsibility to protect residents. “JMPD [Metro police] must play a role in fighting crime instead of harassing our people with roadblocks on freeways and chasing e-tolls.”
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