WATCH | ‘I will collapse City Power, Joburg Water’ — Herman Mashaba

Should he make it back into the City of Johannesburg mayoral seat, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has vowed to collapse municipal entities.

He wants to have senior managers, who report directly to the city manager, appointed instead.

This would mean having to dissolve the boards to which entities such as Joburg Water and City Power report.

Speaking to Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma in an interview on the Politics Weekly podcast, Mashaba was adamant he would collapse municipal entities.

City entities like Joburg Water, City Power and so forth, I’ve got to collapse them. I’m promising [this to the] people of Johannesburg

—  Herman Mashaba, ActionSA leader and Joburg mayoral candidate

In a short clip of the interview, which is due to be released on Sunday, Mashaba said: “City entities like Joburg Water, City Power and so forth, I’ve got to collapse them. I’m promising [this to the] people of Johannesburg.”

He said it would not only save money but also speed up the turnaround time to respond to service delivery complaints.

“You are wasting money by paying people who are not adding any value. They delay the process. It is going to speed up our attention to the issues facing our residents,” he said.

This would be a priority should he win the mayoral chain, he added.

“I want to promise the people of Johannesburg: if it’s not going to be in the first meeting of council, the second one at the latest, I am going to present a report to discuss the collapse of the entities.

“It’s urgent because I’m not going to allow cadres to sabotage me”.

Watch the full episode on Sunday on TimesLIVE and Sunday Times.

TimesLIVE