Fed up Mashaba launches interactive website

Former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba yesterday received mixed reaction to his launch of “The People’s Dialogue” an online initiative that formed part of his vision for a people-centred society.

The dialogue appeared to have been inspired by Mashaba’s interaction with a variety of people during his term as mayor of Joburg and stemmed from his belief that the political party system had failed the ordinary people.

In the last two years of his reign in Joburg he met many people who were disillusioned with the current political system.

Mashaba said The People’s Dialogue (TPD) is meant to begin dialogue with South Africans about forging a better future.

“We need hope. We need to believe again,” he said as he invited people to join him in the conversation via the TDP website.

Against the backdrop of video footage showing the 1994 election scenes, Mashaba said: “I remember 1994 like it was yesterday – the wonder, the pride, the hope for a better tomorrow.”

He said after he succeeded in business in the darkest days of apartheid in the ’80s, he was hoping to see an explosion of opportunities in South Africa but this did not happen because people were held back by politicians and political parties.

“They seemed to exist only for narrow self-interests,” he said.

“The level of corruption I witness in my time as mayor of Johannesburg shows me that our politics is rotten to the core.

“I am tired of their failure, that is why I am beginning a conversation with South Africans from all backgrounds.”

He said he would post regularly on his Facebook page and on Twitter (#ASSpeaks) and on the website thepeoplesdialogue.org.za.