Mashaba the wild card in city polls

His political opponents have already jumped in to say that Herman Mashaba – former mayor of Joburg when he was still with the Democratic Alliance (DA) – is being wildly optimistic by targeting his former position.

Mashaba – leader of ActionSA – announced his party will contest the municipal elections in October, taking
on the ANC, the DA and the EFF in the current Joburg council.

Mashaba has managed to annoy all three of them; so his critics say, quite correctly, he will struggle to find a majority in the 270-seat council to back him if he wants to become mayor. Yet, Mashaba definitely did have his fans – particularly among the DA’s suburban traditional voters – during his tenure at the helm of the city.

In many areas, under the DA administration, services were markedly improved and Mashaba has been outspoken on corruption.

What has concerned some people is that he has drifted more to the populist side of politics, especially when
it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants, where he has been labelled as xenophobic.

Yet, the reality is that he speaks, in this instance, to the fears of millions of South Africans who believe they are being prejudiced by the presence of a tsunami of foreigners in this country illegally.

That particular emotional point may also hurt the EFF among ordinary people because its leader, Julius Malema, and his lieutenants have been outspoken in their support of migrants.

The DA has been wandering politically for a while now and has definitely lost support in the black community after the departure of its then leader Mmusi Maimane and then Mashaba.

The ANC, meanwhile, is still firmly associated with corruption and incompetence.

Into this bubbling cauldron comes Mashaba. The coming elections will not be boring… and might be surprising in many ways.