Herman Mashaba goes to war with Helen Zille

ActionSA leader and Johannesburg mayoral candidate Herman Mashaba has taken aim at Helen Zille, calling her a habitual liar.

The comments came during an interview with Mashaba on the Sunday World podcast, where the party leader discussed his mayoral opposition.

When asked if he would debate with Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral hopeful, Helen Zille, in the run-up to November’s local elections, Mashaba said it would not be worth his time.

“Right now, honestly, I’m going to be wasting my time talking to someone that I know is going to lie in front of me,” he said.

“Why I won’t debate with her now is because she’s a habitual liar, and she lies with a straight face.”

Mashaba’s scathing remarks come on the back of a very successful mayoral campaign from Zille, which is gaining momentum.

After announcing her bid to become Johannesburg’s mayor, Zille launched a strong social media campaign focused on poor services and deteriorating infrastructure in the city.

These videos were posted on sites such as Facebook and TikTok, targeting young voters in the city.

The campaign featured videos of Zille performing stunts that highlighted the poor condition of Johannesburg, including rafting down a street with a burst water pipe and swimming in large potholes.

The videos quickly caught people’s attention and brought massive coverage to her mayoral campaign.

The campaign has also involved investigative-style videos, such as ones exploring the abandoned Metro Centre, Johannesburg’s former administrative offices.

Mashaba said a debate with Zille would not be a good use of his time, which would be better spent on his own campaign.

When asked if he would be able to work under Zille if she were to win the election, Mashaba did not give a definitive answer, saying it was too theoretical to comment on.

A years-long rivalry

The animosity between Mashaba and Zille is not new. It started when both were members of the Democratic Alliance.

In 2016, Mashaba was elected as the mayor of Johannesburg, representing the DA in a coalition with other parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

His tenure as mayor was tense behind the scenes, with ideological differences creating conflict between him and other DA members.

The conflict became public in 2019, when Zille was appointed as the DA’s federal council chairperson, a powerful position in the party.

A day after her new appointment, Mashaba resigned as Johannesburg mayor and left the DA entirely.

He said at the time that he resigned because the DA no longer aligned with his beliefs, particularly regarding race and its relevance to poverty in South Africa.

He said the party did not prioritise service delivery in poor communities, but rather focused on affluent suburbs in Johannesburg.

Following his departure, he formed ActionSA, which quickly gained notoriety for attracting politicians from both the DA and the African National Congress.

In 2020, Zille fired back at Mashaba in an online essay, comparing his time as mayor to a car crash.

She went on to say that Mashaba had betrayed DA voters by aligning himself with the EFF in the parties’ coalition.

“Voters who voted for the DA soon discovered they had elected a mayor who let the EFF call the shots,” she said.

In the years that followed, both politicians have repeatedly taken jabs at each other online and in interviews.

The rivalry became even more heated when Zille announced her ambition to run for mayor of Johannesburg, with Mashaba publicly criticising the move.

In an open letter to Zille, Mashaba mocked the DA candidate, saying, “Joburg is not like Cape Town.”

He went on to say that Zille’s ideas for governing Johannesburg would not be successful, and that she would not be able to work with key stakeholders in the city.