Joburg mayor does U-turn on visit to Alexandra

After failing once again to meet protesting Alexandra residents who marched to the Johannesburg City Region E head offices in Sandton yesterday, it appears Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has had a change of heart, and hopes to join President Cyril Ramaphosa on a visit to Alex later this week.

City manager Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni was turned away by the residents when he arrived to meet them yesterday, and indicated that the mayor would meet with the leadership of the protest this week and then the community on April 15 in Marlboro.

According to Gauteng Premier David Makhura, Ramaphosa will visit Alexandra township on Thursday to address the grievances of the people.

After stalling since last week when the protest began to meet the residents of Alex, Mashaba made a U-turn yesterday afternoon, and asked Ramaphosa’s office if he could join the president on Thursday.

Mashaba’s spokesperson Luyanda Mfeka confirmed this to The Citizen.

“We are still waiting for a confirmation from the presidency to see if the mayor will be able to join him [Ramaphosa] on Thursday,” said Mfeka.

Political analyst Ebrahim Fakir said Mashaba and the Democratic Alliance (DA) did themselves no favours by ignoring the requests from the residents for a meeting.

“From his perspective, I can understand why he would not want to legitimise this protest, because clearly this is an orchestrated electioneering stunt by the ANC,” said Fakir.

He said Mashaba should have communicated better from the onset, and stated that he was not going to entertain the protest instead of sending mixed signals.

“I don’t know why he didn’t go, but it would have been better if he had not made promises to go and see them. He should have been clear from the beginning that this is not a normal protest but a ploy to destabilise the DA,” said Fakir.

Yesterday, Mashaba’s office released a statement saying the mayor would hold a press briefing today to provide detailed information on how law enforcement agencies, spheres of government and Chapter 9 institutions were being used to wage a political war against the City of Johannesburg and its multi-party government.

“It is apparent that the change being delivered in Joburg poses a real threat to the ANC. The city’s efforts to combat corruption is turning off the taps to illicit party funding. Now, as the elections approach, the ANC has turned to state institutions to wage a war against the city,” said Chantelle Fourie-Shawe, a media specialist in Mashaba’s office.

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