Policy and ideological differences Herman Mashaba mentioned upon his resignation cost the Democratic Alliance (DA) the city Johannesburg.

The African National Congress (ANC) candidate Geoff Makhubo has been elected the mayor of Johannesburg municipality today in a tight contest.

Makhubo vied for the mayoral position against DA’s Funzela Ngobeni and Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Musa Novela. The electoral process was conducted and overseen by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa.

On Wednesday the 4th of December 2019, ANC’s massed 137 votes out of 268 in the first round were enough to seal the victory. DA garnerd 101 votes while EFF received 30, equivalent to all its members in the Johannesburg chambers.

It is alleged three DA members may have voted for the ANC which holds 121 seats in the legislature (out of 122 because it lost a counselor to death).

Speaking to Talk Radio 702, DA’s Gauteng Province leader John Moody said “that’s how democracy works unfortunately.”

The Johannesburg mayoral office went up for grabs after Mashaba vacated the incumbency last month citing differences in policy and ideological outlook with the party.

The governing ANC lost the city of Johannesburg to DA in the 2016 local elections. Neither party had accumulated the required majority votes to govern. DA struck a deal with the EFF which paved the way for Mashaba to become the mayor under DA banner.

The new Jo’burg mayor Makhubo promised that his priority will be service delivery when he spoke to News24 before his election on Wednesday.

The Jo’burg elections were supposed to take place last week. The speaker of the legislature was not certain in terms of what constituted majority votes and under what circumstances would procedural tiebreaks be adopted. He and other administrators sought council.

Today, the elections had to go through without hindrance. Besides, the governvening provincial party, ANC, had threatened to put the city under administration if no mayor was declared either today or within a 7-day window period. Pressure mounted on deployed councillors.

With the ANC emboldened, DA seemed to have ran out of ground. It applied the wait-and-see stratagem; almost resigning itself from the possible outcome. Suckered. Preparing for a defeat. A direct result of coalition or semi-coalition government/s.

The horse trading in the build-up to the mayorship elections was breathtaking. Infact, it intensified. Mudslinging was activated with Makhubo becoming fair game, ducking and diving, vilified in the public as a “tainted candidate”. Makhubo is a businessman. He held prominent positions in the governing as its MEC for Finance and Treasurer in Johannesburg.

ANC cherry-picked him and had no option but to stick by him in support. Their word was: there was no court case against their disciple. Rightfully so. He stood.

The chattering classes upped their curiosities: How dare ANC throw such a person with a cloud hanging over his head.

On the other hand, EFF were fed up with the quasi-coalition with DA at war with itself. They scurried to their identity-striken partner on eleventh hour to secure a greeny arrangement.

That is, they continue to throw their weight [votes] behind the DA in Johannesburg in exchange for taking over the Tshwane mayorship in limbo after its mayor took (foist) voluntarily leave owing to shenanigans in office.

DA intimated its huge disappointment. No denying it has no one to blame but itself on its new path of renewal under its Federal chair Helen Zille and party leader John Steenhuisen. Mashaba’s discontent has come to haunt them real big, ripping its guts out of its bluebelly.

EFF has expressed its wishes for the ANC to continue with Mashaba’s work. Will the ANC heed the call after three bonedry years in unfamiliar opposition benches? This space is worth watching.

For its part, ANC could hardly muffle its unconfined joy upon regaining one of the biggest flagship municipalities in SA and indeed, one of the biggest economic engines in Africa. Repenting to appease the electorate, ANC says it has listened to the people. As far as today’s proceedings echoes, councillors have spoken. Let the real work begin!