Cape Town - Political analyst Prince Mashele has described ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba who self identifies as a liberal, as a leader espousing black consciousness traits.
This was one of many curious findings Mashele shared with an audience at Wits University’s governance school two weeks ago during a launch of the book before it was tainted and subsequently cancelled.
The book, which has now been withdrawn by publishers after it was found the author was paid over R12m for the supposed “unauthorised” biography.
Jonathan Ball Publishers said they were not aware of a R12m payment between Mashaba and Mashele.
Mashele also lied about the book’s financing in the media, saying it was self-funded, before later saying he had lied due to signing a non-disclosure agreement with the leader of ActionSA leader, Herman Mashaba. He apologised for lying on Wednesday.
During the Wits book launch, which is still available on YouTube, as part of marketing the lucrative book, Mashele, who is better known for tough talking political analysis, had some curious and interesting findings about Mashaba.
– Mashaba and the DA
“Even when he was wearing a DA T-shirt I could tell that this is not the DA man,” said Mashele of Mashaba, who was sat beside him on stage with a grin as his R12m author went in the charm offensive.
“If I thought he was hardcore DA, I could have simply studied the DA to actually understand him, but I knew that he actually transcended the DA and he was never groomed in that party”.
– Mashaba has a strong black consciousness streak
Mashele explained that he wanted to understand Mashaba the man and get in his mind, and this led him to finding him akin to Steve Biko.
“My findings at the end of the day is that he is actually an intersection of ideologies. He calls himself a liberal, but I realised that that's not the beginning and the end of the man.
“There is a very strong black consciousness streak on his path. The idea of black dignity comes out in a conversation I had with him and he is so obsessed with it. Which is what drove him to venture into business in the first place.
“So he could not bring himself into the idea of working for white people. The idea of black dignity lives in him and I have scanned his private study and remember there is no book of black consciousness by Steve Biko, it comes from his lived experience that his mother was a domestic worker and abused by his employers who were white at the time,“ said Mashele of Mashaba.
He said he found this expression of liberalism did not explain him.
“I think he is just a pragmatic human being who can work with whoever, as long as what he does works,” he said.
– Mashaba the saviour of SA
Mashele said Mashaba could not yet claim to have changed the political landscape, but he was working towards it.
“Since 1994 South Africa has been governed by the ANC and that hasn't changed, he is still trying to change that bigger picture by the way. His ambition is to save South Africa and that's what he told me and he is making an attempt.
“I could argue that he has altered the politics of Gauteng, if you look at the results ActionSA got from last year's local government election,“ said Mashele.
He heaped praise on how Mashaba and the ActionSA launched online and made ground in Gauteng.
“They hired not a single taxi to transport anybody from anywhere, he stood behind the camera with his family and announced that he was launching a political party and got 16% of Johannesburg.
“He overtook the EFF that was launched physically which hired a stadium and mobilised people to the venue, so he has redefined the politics of Gauteng,” he said.
– Mashaba weak on policy
Mashele did leave space for some criticism, saying the ActionSA leader, despite talking up aspects such as the rule of law, the principle of non-racialism, capitalism or a free market economy, he and his party were weak on policy.
“You see South Africans are not satisfied with obvious stuff, they want more than that, but that's what he says he stands for, that he wants a market economy, non-racial society and a good education system.
“He doesn't go beyond that, including his party ActionSA does go beyond that, and it's one of my critics in the book.
“One of my critics of ActionSA is that they are very weak on policy and it hasn't developed a policy making machinery that produces a policy body that can convince South Africans that if they were to get into government this is what they would do,” Mashele said.
– No Michael Beaumont, no ActionSA
“Without Michael Beaumont there would be no ActionSA because (he) is the one that played a technical role in the formation of the party, because Beaumont helped in building the party, although he was introduced to Mashaba by the DA,” he said.
He also explained how the relationship of Beaumont and Mashaba had developed, with the latter having initially been deployed to the City of Johannesburg to be the eyes and ears for the DA leadership at the Cape Town headquarters.
Mashele said Mashaba would confront Beaumont and told him in no uncertain terms were his loyalties were. The rest, as they say, is history.
– Mashaba the DA outsider
Mashele said when Mashaba became the mayor of Johannesburg, he had to constitute his mayoral committee. The people who were nominated to be in his committee were people that he did not know.
“While Mashaba was still the mayor believed in the idea of surrounding himself with skilled people, and he understood what were his shortcomings in politics, unfortunately the DA environment didn’t allow him to create his own team and believed that he needed to get instructions from the DA in Cape Town,” he said.
Mashele said Mashaba confirmed in the book, that within two weeks in the office, the DA wanted to micro-manage him.
“I was dealing with snakes on that administration, I was told that I was the leader of caucus, the leader of council and I wondering as to what was that going to do with me, I am not here for all these things and with the DA we were expected to submit reports of what we were doing everyday and wasting our time,” Mashaba said during the book launch.
– Mashaba is no politician
Mashele said he was shocked with his readiness to admit that he is ignorant of politics.
“He has this phrase that he likes that his knowledge of politics is very dangerous. There is no politician who says that by the way and even the most ignorant one that they know, I find that very fascinating.
“One thing that I have written about is that South Africans do not see ActionSA as a party with capacity to govern the country and they have not seen them as the people whom they can trust,” Mashele said.
– Mashaba the ANC donor
Mashele shared how Mashaba was an ANC donor and he kept the company of ANC leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Tito Mboweni.
“Before 1994 Mashaba gave the ANC R10m for voter education, through an outfit of the ANC called 'I Care'.
"In November 1993, somebody torches his factory in Mabopane, You know know who are the people to visit and cry with him?, Thabo Mbeki and Tito Mboweni. Six months later Thabo Mbeki is the Deputy President of the country and Tito Mboweni was the minister of labour.
“Later after the ANC had won the election, Nelson Mandela called a group of close confidence, and Mashaba was part of that group in Carlton Centre at the time. In the conversations Sipho Hotstix Mabuse turns to him and says why are we not celebrating with our people who voted for us in Soweto.
“Then Mashaba said workout the budget and I will sort out the money. A month later there was a massive festival in Soweto with top musicians and Mandela was there celebrating with the people and all funded by Mashaba,” he said.
Mashele highlighted in the now disgraced biography, that the picture that forms of Mashaba, was one of an angry Mashaba who was very with the ANC.
He said he ultimately saw Mashaba and his ActionSA as an an interface of three parties including the ANC, DA and the EFF.
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