Most political parties are expected to go all out in their bid to gain control of the City of Johannesburg.
The ANC is not the only party that is being hard on its councillors. ActionSA president Herman Mashaba is doing the same.
Speaking to The Citizen on Monday, Mashaba said he has told his councillors that they should produce results or face being removed from their positions.
“You cannot be a councillor if you do not have a constituency. Those that are not able to open branches do not have a constituency. You really cannot tell me that you are a councillor, but you do not have support on the ground. If you are a councillor without support, who are you representing in council?” he said.
Mashaba said his councillors have been given targets to meet. This enables the party to track its performance in council and in communities.
“It is totally unacceptable that we gave them targets already last September, so you will see in the coming few weeks, there will be major shake-ups of our councillors, those who work hard will be rewarded. Think about it this way, it’s like in business, and you are a salesman who cannot bring sales, then you are not good for my business,” he said.
ActionSA’s influence in Joburg
Mashaba believes that ActionSA is still a powerful player in the City of Johannesburg. The party secured 44 seats in the metro during its maiden election in 2021.
“We did well in the recent by-elections in ward 130. This shows that we still have an impact in communities, our party came second after the ANC.
“I mean, political parties like the MK party pumped millions into that campaign; they were always in that ward,” he said.
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Ramaphosa’s message to councillors
Last week, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa told his councillors to pull up their socks and ensure that the municipalities they run get clean audits.
He was lambasted by many in his party for his comments, especially those calling for councillors to learn from the successes of DA-run municipalities.
“Municipalities must act decisively to improve audit outcomes, comrades. It cannot and must not be acceptable that in our country, we control a number of municipalities. It is hugely painful each time the Auditor General comes to report to Cabinet, and they put up their report, only to find that those municipalities that do best are not ANC-controlled municipalities.
“And I can name it here because there is nothing wrong with competition; they are often DA-controlled municipalities. We need to ask ourselves what it is that they are doing that is better than what we are doing. There is nothing wrong with us saying we want to go and see what Cape Town is doing, we want to go see what Stellenbosch is doing,” he said.
Ramaphosa has been backed by other top ANC officials, including Gwede Mantashe and Fikile Mbalula, who agree that the ANC’s councillors must improve on their weaknesses.
DA pulls out all the stops
Meanwhile, the DA has announced Helen Zille as its mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg.
The party will head to congress early next year, where Zille is expected not to contest for the position she currently occupies as Federal Council chairperson.
She is expected to focus her energy on campaigning for the party leading up to the 2026 local government elections at the end of next year.
The DA has always insisted that its councillors undergo an interview process before being appointed to their positions.
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