Image: Penwell Dlamini
The SA Communist Party in Gauteng has called for the removal of Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba‚ accusing him of harassing the poor with his raids on buildings and businesses in the city.
The communists said Mashaba displays a poor understanding and “absolute ignorance” of his role as mayor by “subjecting poor people who live in hijacked buildings to unnecessary harassment and arrests for occupying buildings that are hijacked by organised syndicates”.
“His attention-seeking charade has proven yet again that Mashaba lacks the basic requirements that should be expected from someone who occupies an important position of Mayor‚ especially in such a complex Metro Municipality‚” the party said on Wednesday. “Instead of conducting thorough investigations into the real criminals who have stolen buildings in the City Centre‚ Mashaba in his true ignorant style targeted the most vulnerable residents of Johannesburg. In his desperate rush to grab headlines and prop up his publicity‚ Mashaba conducted a raid under the guise of collecting revenue from businesses that apparently owe the City and ended up arresting innocent people.”
On Monday‚ Mashaba‚ accompanied by various senior officials‚ raided buildings and businesses in Yeoville that owe the city and are hijacked.
A total of 18 people were arrested for not having proper documents and six were arrested for illegally connecting electricity.
During the raid‚ Mashaba warned that such raids will become a common feature in the city as he is trying to fight lawlessness. The city said about 2‚000 business owe the municipality just under R1-billion.
But the SACP in Gauteng said the “real culprits are building hijacking syndicates and absent landlords”.
“We have also maintained that targeting the people who merely pay rent to these unscrupulous criminals does not bring us any closer to solving the problem. But in his true signature style the Mayor has decided to go on a witch-hunt‚ which would victimise the same people who desperately need proper housing. This is an easy way for Mashaba to score cheap publicity points‚” the party said.