Herman Mashaba’s journey from business boardrooms to the ballot paper

ActionSA, founded by businessman-turned-politician Herman Mashaba, has grown into a local kingmaker and watchdog of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

It holds crucial swing votes in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Johannesburg, with an ActionSA member serving as mayor of the nation’s capital.

In a wide-ranging interview with Newsday, Mashaba said he launched the party after a successful business career and a term as Johannesburg mayor, driven by a belief that South Africa was failing to realise its post-apartheid promise.

Born in Hammanskraal in 1959, one year after H.F. Verwoerd became prime minister, Mashaba grew up in a politically charged era.

“By the time I opened my eyes to this world, political leaders were being either killed, in jail, or in exile. One of my grandfather’s brothers disappeared, and to this day we don’t know what happened to him,” said Mashaba. “But I never thought I would go directly into politics.”

Before dropping out of university to pursue his successful career as an entrepreneur, Mashaba began his political journey as a member of an unofficial Student Representative Council during apartheid.

The group’s clandestine meetings were risky, and those involved were frequently arrested. Mashaba formed part of a student committee nominated to negotiate with authorities for the release of these students. 

After a two-week protest, the army surrounded the university and warned all student activists to leave. Mashaba left and never came back. 

“When I got home, I was actually quite angry and I realised I’m not going back there. That’s not going to work when we are confronting such an evil system,” he said.

After this, he tried to leave the country and concentrated his efforts on finding contacts that would help him get out of South Africa. However, this never materialised.

The business of power

He began his career as a commission-based salesman in Johannesburg, selling hair-care products. After 19 months, he quit to start his own business at the age of 24. 

Instead of becoming a distributor, Mashaba’s company, Black Like Me, disrupted the value chain by manufacturing the product itself.

The company was established in 1985 with a R30,000 loan from businessman Walter Dube. It quickly became a success.

“In my years as a businessman until 1994, we spent a lot of money on assisting our people who were detained, giving them lawyers, helping their families, and so forth,” he said.

Mashaba said he was critical of the ANC from its first decade in power. He said the party implemented draconian labour laws and did nothing to stop the breakdown of the rule of law, mostly impacting townships and small businesses.

“The defining moment came when Jacob Zuma was elected as president of the ANC, and I thought to myself: what the hell is going on?”

When Zuma remained in power following the 2009 and 2014 elections, Mashaba was compelled to take action and join the DA. 

He accepted an invitation to be elected as Executive Mayor of Johannesburg from the DA in 2016. He remained mayor for three years, resigning in October 2019 due to conflict within the DA.

“The DA accused me of putting effort into poor areas where people don’t vote for the DA and don’t pay taxes. I find this deeply insulting,” he said.

“When you’re a mayor, you don’t just provide services to those who voted for you; that would be acting unconstitutionally. I’m a strong believer in social justice.”

After three years of being mayor, Mashaba said he was in possession of R35 billion in corruption cases against senior ANC members, some of which remain in the GNU today.

ActionSA and the path forward

Following his resignation from the DA, Mashaba founded ActionSA, driven by public commentary about his work as mayor. The initial funding for the party came from his own pocket.

ActionSA won 90 seats across six municipalities, earning 547,862 votes and ranking as South Africa’s sixth-largest party.

It formed part of multi-party coalition municipal governments, with ActionSA member Dr Nasiphi Moya taking on the role of Tshwane Mayor in October 2024. 

ActionSA received 1.2% of votes in its first national election. Mashaba chose not to go into parliament following the elections, saying that he has no need for the salary. 

Despite being invited to join, the party chose to be a “constructive opposition to the GNU.”

Now the party is looking to grow. Under its “green umbrella,” it has united small independents, like the Forum for Service Delivery, commanding an additional 43 councillors without a single by-election.

Mashaba plans to keep his focus on building up the party and preparing for the 2026 local government elections. 

He said that ActionSA will not be contesting all municipalities. Instead, they have identified municipalities that they will definitely contest, for example, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Rustenburg.

“We are going to focus on municipalities where no one can govern without ActionSA. Even if we don’t win outright, you can’t govern without us,” he said. “That’s where we’re putting our efforts.”