Kingmaker ActionSA’s Mashaba vows to clean up Joburg

Everyone wants to take Herman Mashaba to the municipal ball, but the ActionSA leader is still playing hard to get as he angles for the mayor’s chain which will enable him to root out corruption in the City of Joburg.

By late last night, Mashaba had spurned an approach from the ANC. And if the Democratic Alliance (DA) have not called him yet, it is imminent, according to DA sources.

Although the move to cosy up to Mashaba will irk many in the DA after they parted ways acrimoniously in 2019 when he was sitting Joburg mayor, it may be the only positive outcome for the DA in an election marred by low voter turnout and results that may see coalitions necessitated in many key metros, according to a DA federal council member who wished to remain anonymous, Meanwhile, Mashaba looks as though he holds the keys to Johannesburg as his party rapidly approaches kingmaker status.

According to sources inside the DA, its federal executive met last night to discuss its options.

Should Mashaba ultimately don the mayoral chain, he said his first order of business would be to find and get rid of every bit of corruption in the city.

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“Secondly I would pick out and dismiss all the political cadres who hold positions within the executive,” he said.

And thirdly, he would rid the city of municipal-owned companies like City Power and the Metropolitan Trading Company along, with a host of others that, he believed, opened doors to inefficiency and more hands in cookie jars.

“I will remove the entire middle layer of bureaucracy and bring essential services like electricity back into the municipal executive, where it ought to be, and where there will be better oversight.”

He added that massive infrastructure upgrades would have to be on the cards.

“The city is billions of rands behind in upgrades.”

This is in addition to his inner city renewal plans. But he added that it was rather academic, given that he is not the mayor. And nobody has called him … yet.

“We will consider a coalition or working together with any party, as long as it is not the ANC,” Mashaba said, reprising his statement from an earlier press conference.

His party has taken a hard line on the ANC throughout its campaign.

At the same time, the DA federal council insider said that not going after the ANC was a fundamental flaw in that party’s own campaign.

Focusing on other parties and not attacking their nemesis was a mistake.

“John [Steenhuisen’s] wishywashy attitude on whether or not to collaborate with the ANC did us no favours, and voters are watching the DA closely,” she said.

“It’s Herman or no-one,” she continued.

“For the DA to get into bed with the ANC now will mean that it will lose Johannesburg, and probably many future votes forever. She also said that nowhere should the DA be doing business with the ANC.

“We’ve lost that message to ActionSA, who have been consistent in its anti-ANC campaign. We should also not consider working with the [Economic Freedom Fighters] as we have nothing in common.”

She argued that the only real option for the DA was to work with ActionSA wherever possible.

“Herman Mashaba is immensely popular, we share a similar voter base and one out-of-kilter move by the DA now will shift support away.

“All eyes are now on us to make the right decisions, and it’s pretty clear what that its.”

The Citizen previously speculated that should ActionSA hold the balance of power in Johannesburg, Mashaba might insist on the mayorship.

“It’s really the last thing on my mind right now,” said Mashaba.

“We are focusing on next steps and realigning our sights on 2024.

ALSO READ: Mashaba slams IEC but happy with ActionSA’s progress so far

“Beyond that, nobody has approached us yet, certainly not the DA.”

He said that despite the Democratic Alliance attacks on him and his party during campaigning, he would be happy to talk to them .

“As long as it’s not the ANC,” he said … again.

Mashaba is pleased about his party’s performance in the election and poll results suggest that both the ANC and the Democratic Alliance have lost support to ActionSA.

“The most important thing to me is that we have managed to garner support from traditional ANC voters and we will be working tirelessly to make further gains as we run up to the national elections in three years’ time.”

– news@citizen.co.za