Mashaba vs Makhubo: Who ran Johannesburg better?

Current mayor Geoff Makhubo took the city over when Herman Mashaba resigned in 2019.


A Twitter spat between ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba and Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo over who is/was the better mayor the two took flight Wednesday .

“A certain fool ruined our city,” tweeted Makhubo.

“Joburg emerged well from financial ruin by his masters. Hard work tried to reverse apartheid spatial planning by stitching it together but his populist agenda reversed all. He is now shouting from the sidelines signifying nothing. Lord help him,” reads the full tweet.

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Hours later, Mashaba responded by turning his attention to another former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau, before coming back to address Makhubo – who was MMC for finance under Tau’s administration.

“I agree. Parks Tau was useless,” tweeted Mashaba.

“But even more useless was his MMC of finance who seemingly was earning R30 million from Regiments for maintaining relationships with the city.”

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Following Mashaba’s tweet, scores of people flocked into the thread and it was game over for Makhubo as the majority of Joburgers showed that they preferred Mashaba’s administration more than that of Makhubo.

“What’s your achievement that’s far?” one user asked the Mayor.
“Mashaba ruined JHB???….Surely you’re joking Mr Makhubo. Parks Tau was a mess in JHB, and this is even acknowledged by some in the ANCYL. You could literally see the difference between a Mashaba administration and an ANC one. The darkest corners of JHB were finally lighting up,” reads another twee on the thread.
There was a couple of people who tried to defend the Mayor but Joburg dweller could hear none of that.
“Under that mampara of your party, the City achieved a record-breaking R2,4bn in irregular expenditure. He must come here to dispute it which I doubt that he will,” a tweet by John Mphatsoe reads seemingly in defense of the Makhubo.

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