Gauteng DA launches petition to ‘Save Jozi Mayor’

The DA in Gauteng has come out in support of “strong and capable leader” Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba, who faces a Gauteng ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence on August 22.

The DA have also launched a petition called “Save Jozi Mayor, Herman Mashaba”, which has a targeted number of 100,000 signatures.

This, after it was reported last week that the council’s programming committee had accepted the ANC’s request to table the motion of no confidence on Thursday next week.

The party has accused Mashaba of bringing financial ruin to the city and wants to have him removed, News24 previously reported.

Provincial DA leader John Moodey said it was “shocking” that the ANC would want Mashaba removed.

“This is the third attempt by the ANC to bring down Mayor Mashaba in three years. All previous attempts to remove him in a no confidence vote in 2016 and 2017, have failed.

“It is shocking that the ANC wants to table a motion of no confidence in Mashaba when it is them that failed the residents of the city for more than two decades, depriving them of services,” said Moodey.

DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi expressed the party’s continued support for Mashaba, as did party leader Mmusi Maimane.

“We still have absolute confidence in Mayor Mashaba. We are proud of the work he has done leading the coalition government, and will give him the support he needs,” Malatsi said last week.

Moodey further said: “Under his leadership, Mashaba turned the City’s finances around, to currently the healthiest financial position it has ever been in.

“It cannot be that a strong and capable leader like Mayor Mashaba gets punished for doing what is right.”

He called on the people of Johannesburg to sign the petition to show their support for Mashaba, saying it was “to allow him to continue the fight against corruption and lootings”.

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