South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Monday lost control of the economic hub of Johannesburg for the first time since the end of apartheid, after local government councilors elected an opposition candidate as mayor.
Herman Mashaba of the liberal center-right Democratic Alliance (DA) takes over from Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau, of the ANC, just days after the ruling party was also booted from power in the capital Pretoria.
“The mayoral results is as follows: 125 for Parks Tau and 144 for Herman Mashaba,” said Johannesburg City Council Speaker Vasco da Gama, as DA councilors lifted their candidate onto their shoulders in celebration.
Johannesburg, the country’s largest city and its economic nerve center, is the third big city the ANC has lost following municipal elections this month.
The party of Nelson Mandela emerged as the largest party in the city after the Aug. 3 vote, but failed to secure an outright majority, taking 44.5 percent compared with the DA’s 38.37.
With 11 percent of the vote, the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters found itself in the powerful position of kingmaker and vowed not to give any of its council votes to the ANC.
Mashaba’s election came after a marathon 11-hour sitting at Johannesburg City Hall, during which ANC councilor Nonhlanhla Mthembu collapsed and later died, delaying proceedings into the late evening.
Mashaba paid tribute to 50-year-old Mthembu before vowing to “bring change” to the city.
“People today with no toilets are expected to live in a city regarded as a world-class city,” he said. “This is not fair, this is not what South Africa should be. Let’s get this city working again so we can give our people dignity.”
A successful businessman and millionaire whose rags-to-riches story is well-known, the 56-year-old Mashaba is widely seen as a political rookie.
Born to a domestic worker mother, he is a university undergraduate drop-out whose beauty product business became a household brand in South Africa.
Mashaba campaigned on a platform of job creation and clean governance, declaring corruption “public enemy No. 1.”
“I will work with my team to investigate to ensure all the tenders given prior to us coming into office were given properly and fairly and openly,” he told local television channel ENCA after his election. “Tenders in our administration, when we award them, it will be an open system.”
Parks Tau said on Sunday he was ready to serve the city “in any capacity.”
Nationally, the ANC suffered its worst result in 22 years in the municipal vote, garnering less than 54 percent of ballots cast — an 8 percentage-point drop from the last local poll in 2011.
The municipal elections were largely seen as a referendum on South African President Jacob Zuma, whose rule of Africa’s most advanced economy has been dogged by scandal.
Of the country’s six most populous cities, the ANC won an outright majority in only one: Durban, Zuma’s traditional stronghold.
Last week, the symbolically named coastal municipality of Nelson Mandela Bay also went to the DA when its candidate Athol Trollip was elected mayor.
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