With just a day to go until local government elections and a political battle on for the three main cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, Wits Vuvuzela takes a look at who the Johannesburg Mayoral candidates are.
The African National Congress (ANC):
Mayoral candidate, Parks Tau (46) is once again the face of the ANC in Johannesburg. Tau is the second democratically-elected executive mayor following former mayor Amos Masondo.
Tau has a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Management from Regenesys and is currently enrolled with the University of London for a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management Studies. Tau started his activism as a student activist through the Soweto Youth Congress, the Congress of South African Students and the ANC Youth League and in 1994 Tau was as one of the ANC’s top leaders in Johannesburg.
In an interview with the City Press, Tau says that to his aim for the city of Johannesburg is to “provide access to people who don’t have access to services, to replenish ageing infrastructure and to invest in a city of the future” further stating that installing bicycle lanes around the city is part of the city’s future.
The Democratic Alliance (DA):
Mayoral candidate and Black Like Me founder, Herman Mashaba (57) is the face of the DA’s party in Johannesburg. Mashaba is known for his life story and struggle where despite growing up in poverty, he opened his own hair business which became the biggest hair brand in South Africa making him a millionaire.
Mashaba is the co-author of the book Black Like You and is the CEO of Lephatsi Investments a company that operates in the mining, construction, and logistics sectors.
In an interview with BusinessTech Mashaba said “It is my hope that the city will once again be the beacon of light for the whole of Africa.”
Mashaba told Independent Online that “as mayor, my plan is to prioritise small business in procurement, especially from townships. From day one there will be a transparent and open tender system. No more nepotism. No more backhands. No more slacking,” Mashaba said.
Mashiba continued to say that he “will break up Pikitup into smaller and decentralised service providers across Johannesburg’s different regions. This, in turn, will open up unprecedented entrepreneurial opportunities and create jobs in the fastest growth industry in the 21st century: green technologies.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
The EFF will not have not have any mayoral candidates in the running for the local government elections, but will be contesting individual wards in the city.
In an interview with Business Day Live, EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu said that the EFF was going to “focus is on how we are going to utilise the capacity of the municipality of Johannesburg to ignite a lot of industrial activities here in Johannesburg to support small-scale businesses, but also to incentivise the established manufacturers who are going to add value to a variety of good and services that have to be produced.”