Former mayor Mashaba throws his hat into Joburg’s mayoral race

Former Johannesburg mayor and ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has officially put his name forward to contest the mayorship of South Africa’s economic hub, setting up a high-profile race for control of the City of Johannesburg.

Mashaba led Johannesburg from 2016 to 2019, a period during which his administration was credited with efforts to reclaim hijacked inner-city buildings. 

According to ActionSA insiders, the party’s decision to field Mashaba for the mayoral race was influenced by the Democratic Alliance’s move to nominate former Western Cape premier Helen Zille as its candidate for Johannesburg’s mayor. 

Several senior ActionSA figures, including Michael Beaumont, Lerato Ngobeni, Funzi Nvibeni and Dereleen James, were interviewed before the party settled on Mashaba.

Other parties are also beginning to reveal their hands. The Patriotic Alliance has nominated Kenny Kunene as its mayoral candidate while the African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters have yet to announce their contenders.

Speaking at his acceptance event in Orlando, Soweto, on Saturday, Mashaba said he was stepping back into the political ring “not for spectacle, not for drama, but because this city needs a fighter who knows what it takes to win.

“This is a fight against corruption, a fight against incompetence, a fight against lawlessness,” he said. “It is a fight against decline and collapse and it is a fight to fix Johannesburg. We are here to declare war.”

Mashaba painted a bleak picture of the city’s current state, describing a metropolis in crisis. “Across this city, residents open their taps and not a single drop of water comes out. Streetlights remain broken. Roads are crumbling. Potholes have become craters. Sewage flows through our streets. Lawlessness has turned entire areas into no-go zones,” he said.

He added that jobs were disappearing as businesses shut their doors, while criminal syndicates had overrun parts of the inner city. 

“And while residents suffer, what do they receive in return? Recycled excuses, an endless game of political musical chairs and a constant fight for positions and power.”

According to Mashaba, Johannesburg’s decline was not accidental but the result of “sickening corruption, blatant incompetence and failed politicians who care only about their own self-interest”. 

However, he insisted the city was not beyond repair. “But it will only be through action that Johannesburg will be fixed,” he said. “I say this with absolute confidence because the people of this city have seen it before. They have witnessed real progress and they know what works.

“Residents of this city have already seen what is possible when leadership is serious, disciplined and backed by skilled and professional public servants,” Mashaba said, pledging a campaign to “reclaim the city” and restore Johannesburg’s standing as the engine of South Africa’s economy.