Note To Editor – These remarks were delivered by ActionSA National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont at the 6th event of the ‘Mashaba Legacy Tour’
Dumelang, Molweni, Sanbonani, Goeie More, Good Morning;
It is a pleasure to be with you once again, in Johannesburg, to talk about the future that awaits this city.
It is hard to believe that Johannesburg was a beacon of what local government is able to achieve, just 6 years ago, when Herman Mashaba was mayor. Under him, the city was turning the corner in every conceivable area of governance and delivery.
Since then, coalitions led by the DA, ANC, and minor parties like Al-Jamah have either failed to live up to his legacy, or actively worked to undo it.
That is precisely why ActionSA has launched this Mashaba Legacy Tour – to show residents that their city once had a leader they could rely on – a leader who would lead service delivery, who would stand shoulder to shoulder with frontline staff, and be unapologetic in serving residents and not political parties.
Herman Mashaba’s job remains unfinished because his success put a target on his back with political parties that would rather see Joburg fail than see it succeed under a leader that could win support from their failing parties.
In a city where all other parties have failed the residents of Tshwane, ActionSA stands ready to continue where Herman Mashaba left off.
Today, I want to talk about how Herman Mashaba stabilised relations between the City of Johannesburg and the unions. I do this at a time in which ActionSA Mayor of Tshwane, Dr Nasiphi Moya, is having to reverse the failed legacy of her predecessors irresponsible approach with the unions.
Previous governments who claimed to care about workers only did so through words, and not actions. Before Mashaba came into office, strikes had brought the City to a standstill. Rubbish piled up, as was the case with the 2015 Pikitup strike, and services remained undelivered.
Mashaba inherited a working relationship that was fraught and volatile. He knew that the only solution to both ensure service delivery and protect the rights of workers was to strike a bargain. And so, the “Capitalist Crusader” sought to redefine the relationships with the unions.
The first step was to clarify the roles. Mashaba engaged the unions and declared that the era of political interference in the unions was over. It was clarified that the government must govern and the unions must represent their workers.
After months of consultations and a labour lekgotla, Herman Mashaba signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding with the leadership of SAMWU and IMATU on the 16th of August 2019. This was the first agreement of its kind to be signed between a city government and trade unions.
The MoU achieved a legally binding agreement that, amongst other things:
- Created a partnership between the city and the unions to prioritise stable service delivery.
- Established platforms in the city for unions and government to manage the relationship.
- Offering the unions a platform to make inputs into the budget formulation process.
- Performance management would be implemented across the city.
- A higher burden on unions before strike action can be initiated.
The leadership shown by Herman Mashaba has not been matched, not just by mayors of Johannesburg, but by mayors in other metros. Where Herman viewed unions as partners who could deliver for workers and residents, others view them as antagonists.
In the City of Tshwane, the decision by the previous DA led administration not to honour a pay increase with the unions led to a 4-month standstill. After years of legal back and forth, the responsibility has now fallen on the new administration to ensure R1.6 billion in unpaid salaries is paid. One would think the leaders responsible would have acted with humility, but instead they’ve cheaply and arrogantly campaigned against Nasiphi Moya for a mess that they themselves created.
This type of immature, finger pointing leadership existed in Tshwane, and it will exist in Johannesburg again if the same party is given a mandate to govern. The contrast could not be clearer – only one party has a leader who successfully stabilised relations with the trade unions, and that is ActionSA and Herman Mashaba.
Herman Mashaba also delivered for Johannesburg residents in other ways:
- The highest levels of resident satisfaction (74%) in the history of the city.
- Redirecting R2 billion from luxuries and wastage to service delivery infrastructure.
- Reducing power outages from 6.1 to 5.8 per annum (during peak load shedding).
- Reducing water leaks and bursts from 45 000 to 37 000 per annum.
- Achieving R17 billion in facilitated investment in 2018/19.
- Resurfacing 900km of bad roads (24% of all bad roads in the City).
- Building the largest electricity sub-station in the southern hemisphere within schedule and under budget.
- Extending the operating hours of 26 clinics, saving more than 500 lives with after-hour care.
- Starting 5 city-operated substance abuse facilities, the first in the city’s history.
- Procuring 7 mobile clinics to provide primary healthcare to informal settlements.
- Delivered 7000 RDP homes and 7500 title deeds and 3500 serviced stands.
- The largest expansion of the JMPD with 1500 new officers recruited.
- Establishing a specialized K9 Narcotics Unit.
- An anti-corruption unit that investigated over 6000 cases of corruption totaling more than R35 billion in transactions under investigation and effecting more than 900 arrests.
- Insourcing over 6000 security guards and cleaners, and affording these workers the dignity of a proper wage and the city direct management of securing and cleaning its own infrastructure.
This list of achievements not only stands unrivalled but arose from a complicated 7-way minority coalition government and is a record that has never been rivalled by any of the many mayors from the ANC, DA or minority parties that have followed Mashaba.
ActionSA will be highlighting these and many more achievements that form part of Mashaba’s legacy.
We will do this to demonstrate to the residents of Joburg and give hope that their city was on the right track before and can be on the right track again. We will do this to remind them that only ActionSA offers a pathway from the years of failures they have endured. We will do this to show them that they do not need to look far to find a leader with a proven track record of fixing their city.
Thank you.
Mashaba Legacy Tour: Herman Mashaba’s MOU With Unions Remains a Historic First
Note To Editor – These remarks were delivered by ActionSA National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont at the 6th event of the ‘Mashaba Legacy Tour’
Dumelang, Molweni, Sanbonani, Goeie More, Good Morning;
It is a pleasure to be with you once again, in Johannesburg, to talk about the future that awaits this city.
It is hard to believe that Johannesburg was a beacon of what local government is able to achieve, just 6 years ago, when Herman Mashaba was mayor. Under him, the city was turning the corner in every conceivable area of governance and delivery.
Since then, coalitions led by the DA, ANC, and minor parties like Al-Jamah have either failed to live up to his legacy, or actively worked to undo it.
That is precisely why ActionSA has launched this Mashaba Legacy Tour – to show residents that their city once had a leader they could rely on – a leader who would lead service delivery, who would stand shoulder to shoulder with frontline staff, and be unapologetic in serving residents and not political parties.
Herman Mashaba’s job remains unfinished because his success put a target on his back with political parties that would rather see Joburg fail than see it succeed under a leader that could win support from their failing parties.
In a city where all other parties have failed the residents of Tshwane, ActionSA stands ready to continue where Herman Mashaba left off.
Today, I want to talk about how Herman Mashaba stabilised relations between the City of Johannesburg and the unions. I do this at a time in which ActionSA Mayor of Tshwane, Dr Nasiphi Moya, is having to reverse the failed legacy of her predecessors irresponsible approach with the unions.
Previous governments who claimed to care about workers only did so through words, and not actions. Before Mashaba came into office, strikes had brought the City to a standstill. Rubbish piled up, as was the case with the 2015 Pikitup strike, and services remained undelivered.
Mashaba inherited a working relationship that was fraught and volatile. He knew that the only solution to both ensure service delivery and protect the rights of workers was to strike a bargain. And so, the “Capitalist Crusader” sought to redefine the relationships with the unions.
The first step was to clarify the roles. Mashaba engaged the unions and declared that the era of political interference in the unions was over. It was clarified that the government must govern and the unions must represent their workers.
After months of consultations and a labour lekgotla, Herman Mashaba signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding with the leadership of SAMWU and IMATU on the 16th of August 2019. This was the first agreement of its kind to be signed between a city government and trade unions.
The MoU achieved a legally binding agreement that, amongst other things:
The leadership shown by Herman Mashaba has not been matched, not just by mayors of Johannesburg, but by mayors in other metros. Where Herman viewed unions as partners who could deliver for workers and residents, others view them as antagonists.
In the City of Tshwane, the decision by the previous DA led administration not to honour a pay increase with the unions led to a 4-month standstill. After years of legal back and forth, the responsibility has now fallen on the new administration to ensure R1.6 billion in unpaid salaries is paid. One would think the leaders responsible would have acted with humility, but instead they’ve cheaply and arrogantly campaigned against Nasiphi Moya for a mess that they themselves created.
This type of immature, finger pointing leadership existed in Tshwane, and it will exist in Johannesburg again if the same party is given a mandate to govern. The contrast could not be clearer – only one party has a leader who successfully stabilised relations with the trade unions, and that is ActionSA and Herman Mashaba.
Herman Mashaba also delivered for Johannesburg residents in other ways:
This list of achievements not only stands unrivalled but arose from a complicated 7-way minority coalition government and is a record that has never been rivalled by any of the many mayors from the ANC, DA or minority parties that have followed Mashaba.
ActionSA will be highlighting these and many more achievements that form part of Mashaba’s legacy.
We will do this to demonstrate to the residents of Joburg and give hope that their city was on the right track before and can be on the right track again. We will do this to remind them that only ActionSA offers a pathway from the years of failures they have endured. We will do this to show them that they do not need to look far to find a leader with a proven track record of fixing their city.
Thank you.