Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba claims his DA-led administration is being sabotaged. His comments come in the wake of a week of protest action in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg.
Residents want to stop the mushrooming of informal settlements in an already overcrowded township. Mashaba says he’ll be launching an investigation into what prompted the latest wave of protest.
[LETTER] I’ve written to the IEC to probe whether the @GautengANC is indeed in violation of the Electoral Code of Conduct with regards to election related violence in Alex. #AlexTotalShutDown pic.twitter.com/way7fLkaX4
— Solly Msimanga (@SollyMsimanga) April 9, 2019
[BREAKING] We have gathered evidence of a network Twitter accounts which were established at the end of March and the beginning of April 2019, with the clear intent of creating fake news around the #AlexTotalShutDown.
These are just a small percentage of the accounts involved: pic.twitter.com/6HuSKni0y6
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 9, 2019
Tuesday’s briefing was meant to highlight claims of sabotage by the previous City administration, but it was overshadowed by burning questions. The Mayor faced a barrage of questions.
The protesters were aggrieved the mayor did not respond to their complaints, but the mayor says the Alex protest is a political ploy by the ANC.
Mashaba says he will launch a probe into the motive behind the unrest that broke a week ago.
“So now I must focus on violent protests. So now do you expect me to go and promise me people of Alexandra that I’m going to give them houses with R250-million? We’ve got over 200 informal settlements; so housing is a huge challenge. What about the sabotage that you’re seeing? It’s not important. People of Vlakfontein are not important, people of Zandspruit are not important. People of Soweto are not important. So I can assure you, they’re important to us.”
EM @HermanMashaba outlines response to state orchestrated attacks on City of Joburg #Mashaba ^NS https://t.co/UZgfzHsB8L
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) April 9, 2019
Mashaba is expected to meet ward councillors on Friday along with the Human Rights Commission. The mayor has promised to meet with the community next week.
So far the only high ranking politician to visit Alexandra is Premier David Makhura.