Former Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba Lashes Out At ANC for ‘Looting’ Public Purse

Former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba has lashed out at the ANC for “looting the public purse” since the party came into leadership. Mashaba said in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon: “Since 1994 your focus has been looting the public purse, not serving society.”

Mashaba’s comments came following the declaration by the ANC’s Jessie Duarte (Deputy Secretary-General), in a press briefing on Thursday, that: “The structure of (South Africa’s) economy dictates that the same people who were there before 1990 are in fact the same people who have control and are in charge of the economy and we do not have an inclusive economy.”

Mashaba responded in his post: “I see Jessie Duarte says the economy (is) still in the hands of those who controlled it before democracy. Let us really be honest with ourselves. Who has been running this government for 26 years?

“Since 1994 your focus has been looting the public purse, not serving society. Please, do not insult us!”

The ANC’s Duarte claimed: “Naturally, what we would like to see is that black South Africans are the ones who are in charge of the economy itself. It’s not like that now.”

But Mashaba pointed out: “The bottom line: if the ANC had put as much energy into uplifting black South Africans as they’ve put into looting the public purse, our society wouldn’t be the MOST UNEQUAL in the world 26 years into democracy.

“The ANC had an opportunity in 1994, but decided to serve their stomach, not the people.”

Mashaba is on the cusp of launching his own new political party that will contest seats in the 2021 local government elections.

His term as the “disruptive DA mayor” of Johannesburg since 2016, ended abruptly when he resigned in October last year.

This Sunday Mashaba will take Carte Blanche viewers through those tumultuous three years of resistance to his corruption-busting efforts; coalition politics; his current relationship with the DA, and what went wrong between himself and the party’s federal council chair, Helen Zille.

Zille has already come out in criticism of Mashaba’s forthcoming book – ‘The Accidental Mayor’ – despite, according to Mashaba, not having actually read it yet.

“Helen Zile attacking a book before she has even read it shows that there are some uncomfortable truths that she is expecting,” says Mashaba.

The book is due to be launched on 11 June. He says it is the “behind-the-scenes story I refused to tell, until now”.

A draft report on an investigation by the Public Protector into his years as mayor has been leaked to the press. Today Mashaba said the leak is a criminal offence and is “clearly a malicious and deliberate effort to distract from the launch of The Accidental Mayor” because of its tell-all nature. He says he has instructed his legal team of errors – both law and fact – in the draft report.

Speaking to Carte Blanche, Mashaba says his years as Joburg mayor felt like “going to war” each day with all the “snakes” in the City of Johannesburg.

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Listen to Herman Mashaba: “Let’s be honest”

https://www.facebook.com/HermanSPMashaba/videos/1892846667514374/