Al Jama-ah has called on political parties to isolate the DA in post-election coalition talks
Al Jama-ah Johannesburg mayoral candidate Ashley Mama has described the City of Johannesburg as a “gangster’s paradise” run by untouchables.
Mama made the remarks in an interview with the Mail & Guardian’s Political Pulse podcast.
“What citizens need to understand is that there are untouchables in the City of Johannesburg,” he said. “We are in a gangster’s paradise in the city. There’s a darker side to the city and we hope that Madlanga will get to the bottom of it.”
He said what the Madlanga Commission had uncovered in Ekurhuleni and Tshwane was nothing compared with Johannesburg.
Mama was announced as the party’s mayoral candidate in September, a move that saw former mayor and current MMC for community development Thapelo Amad and former mayor Kabelo Gwamanda overlooked for the position.
Amad served as mayor from January 2023 to April 2023, while Gwamanda served from May 2023 to August 2024. Their appointments were widely reported as a compromise between the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the ANC.
Mama is a former ANC Youth League member who was persuaded by the party’s leadership to join Al Jama-ah and stand as its mayoral candidate.
On the podcast, Mama defended the former mayors, saying they were not merely stopgaps for the city. He cited one of their biggest achievements as stabilising the coalition that governs Johannesburg.
He said that given the circumstances, the sabotage they faced and the frequent changes in mayoral leadership, the two had done a good job.
“You can’t stabilise a coalition if they take you as a placeholder for another political party. That was the narrative that was there at the time,” he said.
“We were a minority party. It is very difficult to achieve what they have achieved. If the ANC itself can’t stabilise coalitions, despite how big they are, it shows the Al Jama-ah effect.”
In defending the party’s decision not to nominate either former mayor as its mayoral candidate, Mama said the party had plans for the two internally. He said that once someone had served as mayor, they had reached a political ceiling and it was natural for them to want to grow beyond that position.
“Also, when you want to grow, sometimes you have to let fresh air come in. It has nothing to do with their capacity. They served their terms diligently and we should thank them for stabilising the coalition because, without them, we would be dealing with the constant turnover of mayors.”
Mama also called on political parties in Johannesburg to isolate the Democratic Alliance (DA) after the elections, accusing the party of wanting to bring apartheid back through the “back door”.
He accused the DA of serving only white people, referring to the government in the City of Cape Town, where several political parties have accused the blue party of neglecting black communities.
“We know that they have a Zionist agenda and a racist one as well. They are bringing apartheid in through the back door in their own city, Cape Town, and they want to bring it here,” he said.
“I think all political parties should be wary of any coalition outcomes. We need to fundamentally isolate the DA because they have shown that they only serve a certain sector of society and it’s a white one.”
Asked whether it was sustainable for a minority party to take control of a city as large as Johannesburg through a coalition, Mama said the reality was that coalitions were here to stay for the next 20 to 30 years.
He said they could not foresee any party securing an outright majority in the near future.
Voters should dispel the notion that bigger political parties govern better, Mama said, adding that if that were the case, Johannesburg would not be in the state of disrepair it was in.
“What must happen is that the best man for the job needs to rise, not just a traditional politician. We need someone who understands the community and has served the community.
“People need to understand that public servants are not gods. We have allowed administrators to run rampant. These guys are fabulously rich on taxpayers’ money and there is no political will to change this. That is why we want to come in.
“If we allow things to continue this way, with citizens not being active, not holding politicians to account and being impressed by people swimming somewhere in a dingy pothole, we need to start taking active citizenry seriously,” said Mama.