Johannesburg residents voted on 4 November for change. Six days later, the people they voted for are arguing about who sits in the mayor’s chair, and the clock is running. Councils have to hold their first sittings by 22 November, coalition deal or no coalition deal.
Here is the arithmetic. The DA took 34.79% of the Johannesburg vote, the ANC 20.25% and ActionSA 16.27%, according to the Sunday Times. In seats, IOL reports preliminary projections of 91 for the DA and 43 for ActionSA in a 270-seat council. That is 134. A majority is 136. So even if the two parties made peace tonight, they would still need a third partner to govern the city.
That should be the headline of every coalition conversation in Gauteng. Instead the headline is Helen Zille and Herman Mashaba.
The offer on the table
In a letter to DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis dated 7 November, Mashaba proposed that both he and Zille withdraw as mayoral candidates. The DA would nominate someone else for Johannesburg, ActionSA would take the deputy mayor post, and in Tshwane the DA would back ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya as mayor while Cilliers Brink resigns his council seat, the Sunday Times reported. Ekurhuleni would go to a DA mayor.
Zille, speaking on BizNews this morning, said the bitterness came from one side only and called Mashaba’s condition absurd. Mashaba told the same show that his relationship with her could not be repaired.
ActionSA chairperson Michael Beaumont told Moneyweb the objection is “a principled position” and that “Helen Zille is a bridge too far for us”. He also said ActionSA would not put an ANC mayor in Johannesburg.
The DA’s own rule, News24 notes, is that the biggest party picks the mayor. On that rule, Zille stays.
Why this is an accountability story, not a gossip story
The feud goes back to 2019, when Mashaba quit as mayor and left the DA after Zille was elected federal council chair. That is seven years ago. Johannesburg has since cycled through mayors, motions of no confidence and collapsed budgets under coalition after coalition. Voters know exactly what an unstable council costs them: water outages, potholes, unpaid service providers, and senior posts left vacant.
So the question for both leaders is simple. Is the personal history worth more than a working city?
Mashaba’s offer at least concedes something real: he steps back too. Zille’s camp can fairly say the largest party should not be told who its candidate is by a party with less than half its votes. Both points have merit. Neither changes the fact that 134 is not 136.
What to watch
- The ANC NEC on Thursday. News24 reports the ANC will finalise its coalition strategy then, with talks centralised under Fikile Mbalula. If the DA and ActionSA stall, the ANC becomes the kingmaker in all three metros.
- The third partner in Joburg. Whoever fills the two-seat gap will want something for it. Residents deserve to know what.
- 22 November. The law does not wait for egos. If councils sit without a deal, mayors could be elected on the floor by whoever can count fastest, which is how unstable coalitions start.
Gauteng has seen this film before. The parties that campaigned on “fix Joburg” now have a fortnight to show they meant it. A coalition agreement published in full, with a service delivery programme attached, would be a start. A two-week shouting match on podcasts would not.
Qwezzy for Holleration