'Tony Leon was mistaken, here is an experiment gone wrong': Makhubo and Mashaba reignite Twitter beef

Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo and former mayor Herman Mashaba have again hit out at each other, resulting in Makhubo calling Mashaba an “experiment gone wrong”. 

It all went south when Mashaba detailed, in a thread, why Makhubo should be in prison for corruption.

Mashaba believes Makhubo should be serving a 15-year jail sentence for alleged corruption since being the mayor.

He said unlike Makhubo, as demonstrated by the Zondo commission, he never interfered with tender processes because it is illegal to do so.

“I see Makhubo is very vocal after the high court judgment relating to emergency vehicles in the city,” said Mashaba.

“Again, just trying to distract Johannesburg residents from the fact that the mayor should be serving a 15-year jail sentence for corruption.”

Makhubo clapped back at the allegations, saying Mashaba failed as mayor only to please the EFF.

He said former DA leader Tony Leon was “mistaken” for calling Mmusi Maimane an “experiment gone wrong”, saying Mashaba was the experiment.

“What about Lephatsi Financial Services? Through their flawed advice, the city is spending R600m more per annum. This is after ignoring solid advice from Wits [University]," said Makhubo.

In 2018, Mashaba was accused of using his wife Connie Mashaba's company, Lephatsi Financial Services, to fix the city's ailing finances.

He denied the allegations and said he was prepared to be investigated by the police or any other state entity in relation to an alleged conflict of interest.

“If you don’t fear accountability then why don’t you co-operate with the investigation on insourcing?” Makhubo asked Mashaba.

“You know well that 2,400 more security personnel who did not work for any of the companies were 'insourced'. Managers say they were under severe political pressure,” he added.

He also cited former US president Abraham Lincoln's 1858 speech about fooling people.

“Lincoln was probably thinking about ‘righteous’ people who wear a white suit in the mud surviving on throwing mud at others.”

The pair have previously taken digs at each other, with Makhubo calling Mashaba a “fool” who “ruined our city”.