DA caucus to decide today on way forward after Mashaba resignation

Political parties are scrambling to find a suitable replacement following Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s surprise resignation on Monday.

After Mashaba revealed the reason for his resignation was the election of former DA party leader Helen Zille as federal council chairperson over the weekend, DA Gauteng caucus leader John Moody said the caucus would determine the party’s way forward today in the DA’s offices in Bruma.

He said there would be no developments until the meeting at which the “issue of the impending vacancy” would be discussed was concluded.

ANC regional spokesperson Jolidee Matongo said regional office bearers would convene with the Gauteng provincial executives of the party to discuss the matter further.

He said the regional faction would elect three nominees for the mayoral position and present it to the provincial executives who would select one of them.

Matongo said although the party had welcomed Mashaba’s resignation, “the issue now is that he wants to determine the manner in which he is going. There is no crisis so why is he still in office?

“We have a city manager who can go through the process of electing another mayor without Mashaba. It seems as if he is trying to get rid of information before he goes.”

On the other hand, the Congress of the People said it respected Mashaba’s principled decision.

Cope national spokesperson Dennis Bloem said: “We want to convene a meeting very soon before we call a meeting with other coalition partners because we hold this in a very serious light.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.