Mashaba’s exit could end DA’s hold on Joburg
Mayor’s resignation comes day after election of Helen Zille to chair party’s federal council
The DA could lose control of SA’s economic hub after Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba dealt it a devastating blow by resigning and delivering a blistering attack on its values.
With no single party commanding a majority in the metro, Mashaba’s departure on November 27 will set the scene for a new round of horsetrading to determine who will govern the country’s biggestbudget municipality.
The resignation of the cosmetics-entrepreneur-turnedpolitician means none of the DA mayors elected to govern the Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay metros after its breakthrough performance in the 2016 local government elections will end up finishing their terms.
Mashaba, who made his name when he defied apartheidera restrictions to form the successful Black Like Me brand, leaves less than two years before the next local polls, in which the DA hopes to win Johannesburg with an outright majority and cement its place as a national force.
His departure comes at a fraught time for the DA. The party has been embroiled in factional battles and national leader Mmusi Maimane has come under intense scrutiny after he led the party to a smaller share of the national vote during the May 2019 elections, the first time it lost support.
That performance led to divisions bursting out in the open, with Maimane, who has sought to broaden the party’s support base by embracing policies aimed at redressing racial discrimination, coming under attack from critics who want the DA to return to its liberal roots.
Mashaba’s announcement came the day after the election of former party leader Helen Zille to chair the DA’s federal council. The position, arguably the most powerful position in the party, is similar to the ANC’s position of secretary-general.
Sitting next to Maimane, Mashaba told a media briefing on Monday that Zille’s election represented a victory for people who stood “diametrically” opposed to his beliefs.
“The DA no longer represents a party that is able to achieve
what I desire most, a movement that can save SA, unseat the ANC and deliver one SA for all. Without this I am deeply concerned for the future of South African politics,” Mashaba said.
Zille, who did not listen to Mashaba’s briefing, said he had joined the DA when she was the leader.
“Herman Mashaba joined the party when I was the leader of the party and when I subscribed to exactly the same values and the vision that I subscribe to now. So my question is what has changed? It is still me,” she said.
The DA swept to power in
Johannesburg in 2016 despite winning just 38% of the vote.
It got enough support from its coalition partners and the EFF to freeze out the ANC, which had lost its majority. That gave Mashaba control of a municipality that had a R64.5bn budget for the 2019/2020 financial year.
Mashaba criticised the DA’s decision to re-examine its stance on coalition governments as “the worst kind of shortsighted thinking, even by the very low bar set in recent times”. The DA was the most “difficult” coalition partner in Johannesburg, and expected of him to govern “arrogantly”, he said.
Maimane said on Monday he respected Mashaba’s decision, though he had wanted him to finish his term.
The EFF said it had noted Mashaba’s resignation with “disappointment”.
MASHABA CRITICISED THE DA’S DECISION TO RE-EXAMINE ITS STANCE ON COALITIONS