Johannesburg Mayor Mashaba Resigns From The DA

Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has resigned from the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Mashaba said last week he would quit the DA if it was taken over by what he called “right-wing elements.”

He said the DA was no longer the same party he joined in 2014.

Mashaba said he joined the DA because he believed in leader Mmusi Maimane’s vision.

“I am gravely concerned that the DA I signed up to is not the one that emerged from this past weekend…”

Mashaba said the election of Helen Zille as Federal Council Chair this weekend represented “a victory for people in the DA who stand diametrically opposed to my beliefs and value system and I believe those of most South Africans of all backgrounds.”

“I cannot reconcile myself with a group of people who believe that race is irrelevant in the discussion of inequality and poverty in South Africa in 2019.”