ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba claims the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress conspired to remove him as DA mayor of Joburg in 2019.
Mashaba told Sunday World Engage that the DA had a closet full of corruption shenanigans on par with the governing ANC.
He warned the public not to be vulnerable to the party’s anti-corruption propaganda.
But, he said, because SA had entered an era of coalition politics and the DA was the better devil than the ANC, ActionSA was committed to the DA-initiated multi-party charter to unseat the ANC in next year’s elections.
Mashaba, who formed ActionSA after cutting ties with the DA, spared no rod for party leader John Steenhuisen and federal council chairperson Helen Zille, saying they were “not committed to social justice to understand that when you are in government, you serve all South Africans”.
The DA and Mashaba’s fallout dates back to 2019, when Mashaba was three years in office as DA mayor of Joburg.
Mashaba alleges that the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) facilitated “secret” meetings between the DA and ANC, where a motion of no confidence was hatched against him.
“The same DA that wanted me to be their mayoral candidate are the ones now who are conniving with the ANC.
“They decided to come out with propaganda and say that I am an EFF mayor.
“Why? Because I was directing a lot of services to poor communities and the DA did not like that. Instead, they said I must go and cut grass in Sandton.
“I said no! People in Sandton have gardeners and lawnmowers to cut grass; my budget does not allow me to cut grass in Sandton, etc”.
He continued: “In Sandton, we will upgrade our electricity and water reticulation, but we need to provide services to poor communities.”
At stake for the ANC, Mashaba claimed, was his discovery of R34-billion of fraud and corruption, where the police and prosecution authority failed to act despite obvious evidence.
When the alleged secret meetings took place, Mashaba was planning to take law enforcement agencies to court for defeating the ends of justice.
The ANC was allegedly aware. “The two of them, through the IRR, facilitated the meeting. Unfortunately, they missed the fact that Herman Mashaba was not born yesterday. So I got to know about these secret meetings.”
The DA’s chief representative in these secret meetings was Zille, he said, and when the party re-elected her as an office bearer, he resigned.
But he refused to confirm how he knew the information, who represented the ANC, as well as where and when the meetings took place.
“Please refer the questions to Zille and the DA,” his spokesperson said.
The IRR said it had, for nearly a century, been the leading voice advocating for a truly non-racial, free, and prosperous South Africa. “The rise or fall of individual politicians has never been the IRR’s interest or focus,” said spokesperson Hermann Pretorius.
While it may be unflattering to hear it, Pretorius said, he could not care less about Mashaba’s imagined political grudges in a country that urgently needs policy solutions that will unlock economic growth that will improve everyone’s life.
“This, rather than any single politician’s fate or ego, is the key to a bright South African future,” Pretorius said.
He said that since Mashaba resigned as mayor of Joburg, he had repeatedly made sensational claims, including in his unauthorised biography, that he so generously funded himself from his own pocket.
“However, despite increasingly elaborate repetitions, Mashaba’s claims about the IRR remain a figment of his admirably vibrant imagination. Should he ever choose to exit the world of politics, a promising career beckons for him as an author of political fiction,” said Pretorius.
DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said Zille would respond to questions and ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri did not respond to questions sent to her on Friday.
