Herman Mashaba is ready to tackle the job as the new mayor of Johannesburg… and focus on ending poverty, crime and corruption in the city.
DA councillor Herman Mashaba was voted in as mayor of Johannesburg during a council meeting on Monday night.
He defeated the ANC’s candidate and previous mayor Parks Tau with 144 votes to 125. The DA also claimed positions of speaker of council and chief whip.
After the announcement of his victory, Mashaba said a few words on what first order of business would be creating jobs.
“Our government needs to create an enabling environment. Small businesses, you will be my biggest friends,” Mashaba said.
He also said corruption will be “public enemy number one”.
The newly appointed mayor was also interviewed on 702 this morning and explained that he was “excited that the ANC had been dislodged”‚ but said this had been shadowed by the loss of an African National Congress councillor‚ and extended his condolences to Nonhlanhla Mthembu’s family‚ fellow councillors and political party.
He told the station’s John Robbie of a degree of anxiety‚ saying “now the big job starts”.
This would involve tackling poverty and corruption‚ the fight against which‚ Mashaba said‚ were the cornerstones of his “seven-month-campaign”.
He said this would involve replacing a “cadre public service” with a “professional public service…men and women who want to serve”.
As well as being independent and proficient‚ Mashaba promised an approachable administration‚ even telling Robbie to “just call me Herman”
When quizzed about how his business experience world translate into running government‚ he said that when making decisions in the former “you do not do things only for yourself”‚ and bemoaned that the previous ruling party had focused on self-enrichment.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on Facebook & Twitter to keep up to date with good news as it happens.
by 