THE last question about the local government elections is who will run Johannesburg. And it shouldn’t even arise. The ANC ended the elections as the largest party in the city, but DA leader Mmusi Maimane insists his mayoral candidate, entrepreneur Herman Mashaba, will be the party’s nominee when the new council meets for the first time next week.
That may sound honourable. But it is also agonising because Julius Malema’s EFF has told Maimane that while it will informally support the DA in Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, allowing it to run those cities in addition to Cape Town, it is less than enthusiastic about Mashaba as mayor of Johannesburg.
Maimane is being his decent self (and Malema would not stop Mashaba becoming mayor). But he’s also being a little imprecise. People voted for Mashaba to be mayor, he said on Wednesday. "It’s important," he said, " that we honour our relationship with the voters."
I seriously doubt anyone who voted for the DA on August 3 did so because of Herman Mashaba. And I doubt anyone who voted for the DA would give a hoot if the DA caucus next week proposed someone more politically experienced to be mayor.
Mashaba is a nice man and in business terms a "legend". But he was a poor candidate, a political rookie, and his inexperience sticks out a mile. Maimane himself is the precedent for changing horses. He was the DA’s premier candidate in Gauteng in the 2014 national and provincial election and when he lost, he ducked off to national politics instead of "honouring the voters" by taking his elected seat as leader of the opposition in the province.
The fact is Mashaba was Maimane’s choice, against some opposition from the DA leadership. Even if he succeeds in making him mayor, it is a highly political job, not a management one. Entrepreneurs often make lousy politicians — as Donald Trump proves daily. They think enterprise and focus trump patience and caution. Everything has a simple solution. But everything is complex.
Maimane, understandably, will not want to be seen buckling to EFF pressure. But the DA, in office, will have to live with them for five years, issue by issue. Is Mashaba really worth the risk? Johannesburg is a huge political challenge and a serious place upon which to lay a platform for 2019.
Mostly, I’ll happily concede, Maimane has got it spectacularly right. He pulled off a huge coup on Wednesday by stitching together an alliance with four smaller parties with at least two leaders, Bantu Holomisa and Mosiuoa Lekota, who could make a material difference to the DA vote in 2019 if they team up solidly with Maimane. He just has to ensure the DA not only gets Johannesburg, but that it keeps it.
And if Maimane can’t bring himself to ask his friend to step aside, then Mashaba himself should offer to go. If I were Maimane, I’d wrestle Mashaba into a top job in the DA executive. A policy job that is, not a political one.
The formation of the alliance topped a remarkable day in our politics. ANC leaders must be wondering what has hit them.
With a discredited leader in President Jacob Zuma, the governing party has no answer to what is building up underneath it.
Alongside Maimane, the day also belonged to Malema, who ran a masterly media briefing to announce that his EFF would not go into any coalition with the DA, but that it would vote with it in Gauteng and with the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal. It was the right thing to do for the EFF itself and, in the end, Maimane will thank him too.
There’s a really promising rapport between Malema and Maimane that could, if nurtured, develop over time and may one day be our salvation.
They will not see eye to eye on economic policy, but they are both driven by the clear urgency for social justice and peace in SA. And by an intense contempt for Zuma’s ANC.
Heaven help those decent people who still cling to the liberation movement of yesterday. It has well and truly stuffed up its opportunity to govern SA with any distinction.
Zuma has his Cabinet in a lekgotla for the next few days. If the ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting that preceded it last weekend is any guide, don’t expect much. No university fee increases, ordered the NEC for starters. So, where will the Cabinet find the R2bn to cover yet another shortfall? Welfare? Infrastructure? It is all over for Zuma, even though he is almost certain to do something destructive in response.
The man with the wind at his back, for now, is Maimane. Take Johannesburg as cleanly as possible, Maimane. That’s what your voters wanted on August 3. Mashaba says he intends going to the council meeting next week, and you can understand his instinct. But he succeeded in business because even in the face of difficult circumstances, he made the right choices. This is different.
• Bruce is editor-in-chief.
Herman Mashaba. Picture: ARNOLD PRONTO
THE last question about the local government elections is who will run Johannesburg. And it shouldn’t even arise. The ANC ended the elections as the largest party in the city, but DA leader Mmusi Maimane insists his mayoral candidate, entrepreneur Herman Mashaba, will be the party’s nominee when the new council meets for the first time next week.
That may sound honourable. But it is also agonising because Julius Malema’s EFF has told Maimane that while it will informally support the DA in Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, allowing it to run those cities in addition to Cape Town, it is less than enthusiastic about Mashaba as mayor of Johannesburg.
Maimane is being his decent self (and Malema would not stop Mashaba becoming mayor). But he’s also being a little imprecise. People voted for Mashaba to be mayor, he said on Wednesday. "It’s important," he said, " that we honour our relationship with the voters."
I seriously doubt anyone who voted for the DA on August 3 did so because of Herman Mashaba. And I doubt anyone who voted for the DA would give a hoot if the DA caucus next week proposed someone more politically experienced to be mayor.
Mashaba is a nice man and in business terms a "legend". But he was a poor candidate, a political rookie, and his inexperience sticks out a mile. Maimane himself is the precedent for changing horses. He was the DA’s premier candidate in Gauteng in the 2014 national and provincial election and when he lost, he ducked off to national politics instead of "honouring the voters" by taking his elected seat as leader of the opposition in the province.
The fact is Mashaba was Maimane’s choice, against some opposition from the DA leadership. Even if he succeeds in making him mayor, it is a highly political job, not a management one. Entrepreneurs often make lousy politicians — as Donald Trump proves daily. They think enterprise and focus trump patience and caution. Everything has a simple solution. But everything is complex.
Maimane, understandably, will not want to be seen buckling to EFF pressure. But the DA, in office, will have to live with them for five years, issue by issue. Is Mashaba really worth the risk? Johannesburg is a huge political challenge and a serious place upon which to lay a platform for 2019.
Mostly, I’ll happily concede, Maimane has got it spectacularly right. He pulled off a huge coup on Wednesday by stitching together an alliance with four smaller parties with at least two leaders, Bantu Holomisa and Mosiuoa Lekota, who could make a material difference to the DA vote in 2019 if they team up solidly with Maimane. He just has to ensure the DA not only gets Johannesburg, but that it keeps it.
And if Maimane can’t bring himself to ask his friend to step aside, then Mashaba himself should offer to go. If I were Maimane, I’d wrestle Mashaba into a top job in the DA executive. A policy job that is, not a political one.
The formation of the alliance topped a remarkable day in our politics. ANC leaders must be wondering what has hit them.
With a discredited leader in President Jacob Zuma, the governing party has no answer to what is building up underneath it.
Alongside Maimane, the day also belonged to Malema, who ran a masterly media briefing to announce that his EFF would not go into any coalition with the DA, but that it would vote with it in Gauteng and with the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal. It was the right thing to do for the EFF itself and, in the end, Maimane will thank him too.
There’s a really promising rapport between Malema and Maimane that could, if nurtured, develop over time and may one day be our salvation.
They will not see eye to eye on economic policy, but they are both driven by the clear urgency for social justice and peace in SA. And by an intense contempt for Zuma’s ANC.
Heaven help those decent people who still cling to the liberation movement of yesterday. It has well and truly stuffed up its opportunity to govern SA with any distinction.
Zuma has his Cabinet in a lekgotla for the next few days. If the ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting that preceded it last weekend is any guide, don’t expect much. No university fee increases, ordered the NEC for starters. So, where will the Cabinet find the R2bn to cover yet another shortfall? Welfare? Infrastructure? It is all over for Zuma, even though he is almost certain to do something destructive in response.
The man with the wind at his back, for now, is Maimane. Take Johannesburg as cleanly as possible, Maimane. That’s what your voters wanted on August 3. Mashaba says he intends going to the council meeting next week, and you can understand his instinct. But he succeeded in business because even in the face of difficult circumstances, he made the right choices. This is different.
• Bruce is editor-in-chief.
