Mashaba believes he has unfinished business in Joburg

Former Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba believes he has unfinished business in the city after quitting as its number one citizen in 2019.

His resignation from the position followed a fallout with his former political home, the Democratic Alliance (DA).

With local government elections looming, Mashaba has signalled a warning to corrupt officials, saying he will ensure they are sent packing should he decide to stand as ActionSA’s mayoral candidate for the city.

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He said that he will also pick up on his previous campaign to clear the city of undocumented foreign nationals.

Mashaba said his party has little interest in joining the Government of National Unity (GNU) and would rather focus its attention on gaining control over the municipalities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

“Given the opportunity to run these three metros, they can keep their GNU. ActionSA will run the economy of this country and create a conducive economic environment for our people to get jobs.”

Mashaba faced harsh criticism from human rights groups during his tenure as Johannesburg mayor between 2016 and 2019, when he went on a drive to flush out undocumented foreign nationals from inner-city buildings, accusing them of criminality.

But he’s unapologetic about this stance and said he will do it again to ensure businesses in poor communities are only run by South Africans.

“We will ensure that undocumented foreigners in these three metros are sent back to their countries, or they go to Cape Town, but in the three metros where ActionSA governs, we will have zero tolerance for undocumented foreigners.”

Mashaba said his party will make an announcement on its mayoral candidates before the end of February and whether or not he will be among them.