The ANC in Johannesburg has accused former mayor Herman Mashaba of hypocrisy and worsening the inner-city hijacked building crisis during his own tenure.
The rebuke came after Mashaba, now ActionSA president, criticized the city’s current approach of negotiating with occupants of reclaimed buildings rather than pursuing mass evictions. ANC Greater Johannesburg spokesperson Mantombi Nkosi dismissed his remarks as “politically motivated” and “intellectually dishonest.”
Nkosi stated that hijacked buildings require more than just law enforcement and must be addressed through housing and development solutions. She argued that Mashaba’s aggressive eviction strategy between 2016 and 2019 deepened urban decay rather than reviving the inner city.
“He did not reclaim the inner city, instead, he collapsed it,” Nkosi said.
The city’s current approach, led by MMC for Public Safety Mgcini Tshwaku, involves assessing which occupants can afford to pay rent as part of a broader plan to stabilize reclaimed buildings. The ANC maintains this balanced strategy is necessary to uphold human dignity while pursuing urban renewal.