Helen Zille opens up about Herman Mashaba and his attacks on her

The DA’s mayoral candidate in Johannesburg, Helen Zille, shared her views on ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba’s attacks on her during an ENCA interview.

During the election campaign and following the results, Mashaba has regularly slated Zille and said he could not work with her.

“Helen Zille is a habitual liar, a dishonest human being, and a backstabber. I don’t want to subject ActionSA to someone where we will always have to watch out back,” he said.

During his election campaign, he also said that Zille will never be the mayor of the City of Johannesburg.

“Residents of this city know that she collapsed the coalition governments led by the DA on two occasions. She believes it is her way or no highway,” he said.

“She must just start packing and return to Cape Town, where she has failed ordinary people of that municipality and province.”

He also called her a racist. “I can work with the DA, as long as they remove racists. My value system would not allow me to work with someone who is racist,” he said.

Following ActionSA’s strong performance in the 2026 elections, Mashaba has also criticised the DA, calling it a racist party.

“These racists are showing their true colours. They take me for a boy, to be told what to do and how to feel,” Mashaba said about the DA.

“They are under the impression that they have self-imposed superior logic and thinking. They have never been my medicine and will not be now.”

“We are being disrespected by those who believe that the DA is the only party that must work with the ANC through the front door, but all other parties should not.”

Helen Zille said she has not attacked Mashaba or ActionSA during her campaign and has nothing against him.

However, she questioned what would have happened if the situation had been reversed and she had attacked Mashaba with the same voracity.

“Imagine if I had gone off, sounded off, insulted, and said the most incredibly libellous things about a person, and then demanded that they be out of the equation,” she said.

“I have to laugh at it all. I haven’t said a word about him the entire election campaign. I’ve got nothing against Herman Mashaba.”

“People ask me this question as if it were a mutual feud, but it’s not. I haven’t argued with him, and I haven’t taken him on once during this election.”

“Our challenge was to secure a new government for Joburg, not to indulge in petty squabbles on the side. So, I haven’t said a single word about ActionSA or Mashaba.”

Helen Zille shares her view on why Herman Mashaba hates her

Zille argued that Mashaba doesn’t like her because when she was the DA leader, he was the mayor of Johannesburg. “He became the EFF’s mayor.”

“He allowed Julius Malema to dictate major decisions, capture City Power, dictate the fleet tender, and do all kinds of things that served his interests,” she said.

“Herman Mashaba did this because he wanted to stay in power and needed Julius Malema’s support.”

“He even appointed Shadrack Sibiya as head of the anti-corruption unit at Julius Malema’s instruction.”

She said that when she told him that he could not do that, he said that it was the price the DA paid to stay in power.

“My view was that good coalition management is not about clinging to power at all costs,” Zille said.

“We had a fundamental disagreement on that principle, but that surely shouldn’t devolve into a vendetta spanning decades.”

“I have never uttered a bad word about him in public. Never. Nor have I said a word against ActionSA throughout this entire campaign.”

Zille said that the media should direct questions about Mashaba’s animosity toward her to him rather than to her. “The questions should be directed to the person driving it.”