Resignation of Mayor Herman Mashaba
The resignation of the DA’s Mayor in Johannesburg, Mr Herman Mashaba, in protest against the election of Helen Zille as its FEDERAL CHAIR, is hardly surprising. He gave reasons for his resignation citing that people who believe race is irrelevant, especially in addressing inequality and poverty did not sit well with him. Even more telling was the new Chair’s view that the DA’s “point of departure is that you are free to define your own identity”, and ignoring the need to attract more Black voters.
Mr Mashaba in his resignation speech also stated that: “the party had certain individuals who drew artificial distinctions between service delivery in informal settlements and suburbs as a binary, an either-or-type approach.” There are also other reasons for his resignation where his implementation of the in-sourcing programme that benefited over 7000 people was not supported within the DA, merely because it was not “DA” policy.”
The DA has always chosen to be a party that believed in “fronting” to gain support and leverage from Black voters. We saw the likes of Lindiwe Mzibuko, Patricia de Lille, Mamphele Ramphele, Solly Msimang, Herman Mahaba and Musi Maimane being used to attract Black voters.
Mr Mashaba’s exit is welcomed.
