OUR CITY NEWS: Herman Mashaba targets illegal immigration in bid for Joburg mayoralty

Herman Mashaba is gatvol.

He is gatvol with the ANC, gatvol with the DA, gatvol with corrupt politicians, collapsing infrastructure, rising crime and a Johannesburg he believes has been allowed to deteriorate under successive administrations.

And he is particularly gatvol with undocumented migrants, repeatedly describing them as a threat to the city and country, and often returning to immigration even when the conversation has moved elsewhere.

It is a frustration central to his campaign to return as Joburg mayor after the 4 November local government elections. ActionSA has even adopted the sentiment as its campaign slogan, asking voters, “Gatvol? Let us fix it!”

For the businessman-turned-politician, the opportunity to lead Johannesburg again is one he says he is uniquely qualified for, having served as mayor between 2016 and 2019. But his ambitions for the city are inseparable from his resentment towards the political parties he once worked with and his increasingly confrontational approach to immigration.

Ready to declare ‘war’

During the interview, Mashaba repeatedly returned to undocumented migration, describing it as a national threat and promising a dedicated municipal police unit to help remove undocumented people.

At one point, while reflecting on his previous mayoral term, he volunteered that he had no interest in governing beyond Johannesburg.

“I don’t want to be the mayor of the world. I want to be the mayor of the residents of the City of Johannesburg. If someone wants to be the mayor of Harare or Lagos or Lahore in Pakistan, they can play that role.”

Asked to explain, Mashaba turned to immigration, promising to work with the police, Home Affairs and labour authorities to identify and remove undocumented people. He associated undocumented migrants with drug trafficking, counterfeit goods, organised crime and even the financing of international terrorist organisations.

His rhetoric goes considerably further than advocating immigration-law enforcement, promising to declare “war against these invaders” and making the removal of undocumented migrants one of three non-negotiable conditions for any potential future coalitions involving ActionSA.

Mashaba has often been accused of fanning the flames of xenophobia, criticism that has followed him since his first mayoral term. In November 2018, he carried out what he described as a citizen’s arrest of an informal trader transporting cow heads through the Johannesburg inner city. 

Defending his actions at the time, he later posted on social media that the City could not allow people to bring “Ebolas” into the country in the name of small business. He later apologised following criticism from the South African Human Rights Commission.

In 2020, Mashaba falsely claimed that South Africa had 15 million undocumented migrants, confusing people without identification documents with migrants. He later acknowledged and apologised for the error, but in 2026 again incorrectly presented figures relating to people without legal identification as evidence of undocumented immigration.

His support of and alignment with anti-migrant movements has also become equally obvious. In March, Mashaba joined a Durban demonstration organised by March and March, the movement led by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, and he has publicly supported the organisation and expressed openness to Ngobese-Zuma becoming an ActionSA mayoral candidate.

March and March has been linked to violent xenophobic attacks, vigilantism and protests that have targeted foreign nationals. Human Rights Watch documented fatal violence associated with its anti-migrant demonstrations, while its leader, Ngobese-Zuma, faced public violence charges after clashes at a Durban school in January.

More recently, anti-migrant protests in Durban and Soweto descended into violence following misinformation about a Constitutional Court ruling, with vehicles torched and migrant-owned businesses looted.

Mashaba has also embraced figures associated with anti-migrant activism within ActionSA, with former Operation Dudula leader Zandile Dabula earmarked as a prospective mayoral committee member.

Asked whether his rhetoric could contribute to violence against migrants, Mashaba did not directly address the concern, instead repeatedly referring to South Africa’s murder rate.

“Murder is murder, whether you’re a foreigner or a South African,” he said, insisting that he was concerned about all lives equally.

Returning to unfinished business

Beyond immigration, Mashaba says Johannesburg’s decline can be reversed through stricter financial management, professional administration, private investment and stronger law enforcement.

Mashaba says he has no financial need to work and could spend his retirement playing golf, but feels compelled to act because of the poverty and deteriorating living conditions around him.

“How can I enjoy my life and enjoy my wealth when just across the freeway from here are people in Alexandra not even having ablution facilities?” he asked.

His party’s 2026 election manifesto promises to restore basic services, improve revenue collection, professionalise municipal administration and attract investment. For Johannesburg, he wants to recruit 2,500 additional metro police officers over five years, bring City Power and Johannesburg Water under more direct municipal control, and revive his programme of redeveloping abandoned and hijacked inner-city buildings.

He says his previous administration identified hundreds of properties for potential redevelopment, with private investors expected to provide affordable housing and commercial space. He also wants skills audits and the removal of officials he believes were politically deployed by the ANC but are unqualified for the jobs they occupy.

Mashaba has already announced a prospective mayoral executive team and promises a detailed assessment of Johannesburg’s problems and his plans to address them within his first 100 days. Having entered the mayoralty in 2016 with little experience of municipal government, he now believes he is uniquely equipped to rescue the City.

The parties he wants left behind

Much of Mashaba's confidence is accompanied by clear anger and resentment towards the political parties he blames for frustrating his previous administration. His relationship with the DA deteriorated during his previous term, ending with his resignation in October 2019 following Helen Zille’s election as the party’s federal council chairperson.

He maintains that elements within the DA opposed his focus on poorer black communities and that Zille worked to undermine his administration. During the interview, he repeatedly accused both the DA and ANC of betraying him, blaming the ANC for Johannesburg’s deterioration and the DA for obstructing his attempts to govern.

“These two parties, as far as I’m concerned, are a curse to this nation. We’ve got to put them in the dustbin of our history,” he said.

Asked whether his animosity was driven by a personal grudge instead of an objective reading of the situation, Mashaba acknowledged that his experiences shaped his views.

“When I talk about the DA having betrayed me, I talk about personal experience. Everything in life works about your own personal experiences,” he said. 

Those grievances could complicate his ambitions in a city where coalitions and coalition negotiations have continued to prove difficult to get right. Mashaba insists ActionSA will negotiate with any party after the election, provided its coalition partners are aligned with fighting corruption, delivering services to all communities and supporting the removal of undocumented migrants.

Mashaba says he would rather remain in opposition than compromise on these principles, raising questions about his willingness to make the concessions necessary to govern Johannesburg in a successful coalition. DM

This interview is part of an ongoing series by Our City News featuring key mayoral candidates contesting the City of Johannesburg in the upcoming local government elections. 

Daily Maverick’s Joburg Bureau is for people who love this city. Get the latest Joburg news, events and conversations sent straight to your phone every Friday. Join the WhatsApp Community.