Mashaba defeated the ANC’s candidate, Parks Tau, who’d been mayor of Johannesburg since 2011.
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Out of respect for Mthembu, Mashaba said he would postpone his inaugural speech to the council’s next sitting on September 13.
Then, just as councillors prepared to vote for whip and mayor, an ANC councillor collapsed and died… His victory, secured with the support of South Africa’s third-biggest opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, means Democratic Alliance mayors run Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, the nation’s second-biggest city, and Nelson Mandela Bay.
Mashaba says the DA aims to create an environment that empowers entrepreneurs.
It’s confirmed the councillor was ill.
The DA’s Vasco da Gama emerged victorious against the ANC’s Constance Bapela for the seat of Speaker of Council. EFF leader Julius Malema was noticeably absent.
The DA’s mayoral candidate, a wealthy, self-made businessman who founded Black Like Me, was one of the sticking points in the party’s talks with the EFF ahead of Monday’s inaugural meeting of the council. Voting was disrupted numerous times, with agents arguing over regulations around secret ballots.
Earlier, the DA raised concerns about the outcome of today’s vote amid allegations of bribery against ANC Housing MMC Dan Bovu.
Through his lawyers, Bovu called on the red berets to provide proof of their claims or face legal action.
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The ANC took 45 percent of the vote to the DA’s 38 percent in the elections – short of an outright majority.
