Mashaba proposes ceding Johannesburg mayoralty to the DA
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Sowetan
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has proposed in a letter to DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis that he and Helen Zille step aside, so the DA can name a replacement backed by his party. In return ActionSA would get the deputy mayor post in Johannesburg. His party is third in Johannesburg with 16.27% of the vote, behind the DA (34.79%), according to TimesLive.
The president of ActionSA, Herman Mashaba, proposes to withdraw from the race for the Johannesburg mayoralty so that the Democratic Alliance (DA) can retain the post, according to a letter addressed to the DA’s federal leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, dated 7 November and seen by TimesLive. He also asks for the withdrawal of former Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, also a candidate for the mayoralty.
According to the results cited, the DA came first in Johannesburg with 34.79% of the vote, ahead of the ANC (20.25%) and ActionSA (16.27%), which would make a two-party coalition possible. In Tshwane, ActionSA is second with 22.07%, ahead of the ANC (20.22%). In Ekurhuleni, the DA wins 30.68%, the ANC 22.11% and ActionSA 18.5%.
The offer provides that ActionSA would obtain the post of deputy mayor of Johannesburg, with the other terms of any possible agreement still to be negotiated. In Tshwane, Mashaba demands that the DA’s mayoral candidate, Cilliers Brink, resign his council seat, and that the DA propose a deputy mayor acceptable to ActionSA; in return, the DA would back ActionSA’s candidate, Dr Nasiphi Moya. Mashaba acknowledges a long-standing mistrust between the two parties.
This offer comes after ActionSA’s rejection of a government led by Helen Zille, which had already been discussed in negotiations over the municipalities of Gauteng, the most populous province in the country.
