Helen, Herman and Hydrogen. Are egos holding a third of SA’s economy hostage?

Helen Zille and Herman Mashaba have been at war since 2019. Ron Weissenberg thinks Gauteng can no longer afford it. After the 2026 local elections, a DA-ActionSA pact could run Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and beyond: the country’s economic engine. Both sides nurse real grievances, from the GNU to the Tshwane collapse. But Weissenberg says they need not merge, or even like each other. They need one shared platform for clean local government. Residents with dry taps can’t wait..By Ron Weissenberg.South Africa’s political party landscape may be unique in some ways. There is a clear line between the Looters and Lawgivers. The Lawgivers believe in the rule of law and support the precepts of constitutional democracy and they are easy to spot: ActionSA, ACDP, FF+, DA and the IFP are the ones that come to mind immediately. When Lawgivers coalesce with Looters, toxic coalitions result. But even those are potentially less damaging than when personal egotism becomes a battleground and a national liability. The prolonged enmity between Herman Mashaba (Action SA) and Helen Zille (Democratic Alliance) is one such battle, and the casualty is not just the future of Johannesburg, but likely the economic stability of South Africa itself.Ms. Zille and Mr. Mashaba, christened Helen and Herman, operate like two isolated hydrogen atoms. Separated by extreme political temperatures and a highly charged barrier of stubbornness, they remain reactive and unstable. But if they simply cleared the air and bonded, they would form a stable H2 molecule capable of sustaining life itself.When Mashaba resigned as Johannesburg mayor and walked away from the Democratic Alliance in October 2019 following Zille’s election as Federal Council chairperson, he framed his exit as a principled stand. In retrospect, this departure highlights a recurring flaw in South African politics: the tendency for bruised egos to spawn toxic political factions rather than engage in the hard work of consensus-building and focused servant-leadership.By creating ActionSA, Mashaba didn’t unite a broader ideological coalition. While the party capitalised on genuine voter frustration, ActionSA essentially cannibalized the middle-class opposition vote. Instead of presenting a unified front to capitalise on the ANC’s electoral erosion, the DA and ActionSA have spent years locked in political recrimination, dividing constituencies in desperate need of competent alternatives.To be fair, the bad blood extends beyond 2019 and the rise of ActionSA in the 2021 local government elections. The DA’s decision to join the Government of National Unity (GNU) in 2024 was seen by ActionSA as a betrayal of their pre-election opposition pact. Conversely, ActionSA’s subsequent move to collapse the DA-led coalition in Tshwane left the DA deeply distrustful of Mashaba's reliability. Both sides have grievances they feel are entirely justified. Yet, dwelling on these betrayals real or perceived, will not keep the water running in Gauteng..Read more:.Johannesburg’s Zille-Mashaba battle to the finish: John Matisonn.The prize for political maturity and prioritising people over personal principles extends beyond mayoral chains. With the 2026 election results, a unified DA-ActionSA coalition would govern a contiguous, powerhouse footprint: Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Emfuleni and Mogale City together with Midvaal already held by the DA.The combined economic weight of this territory is staggering. The three major metros together with Mogale City and Emfuleni, pushes the coalition's total economic footprint to over 33% of South Africa's GDP. And where an ideologically compatible third coalition partner is needed, the Freedom Front+ seals the deal. By putting their differences aside, this united front would directly manage the administration, service delivery, and local economic policy for over one-third of South Africa’s economy and nearly a quarter of its population (2022 census). Because this territory represents almost the entirety of Gauteng's non-mining industrial, financial, and administrative base, it functionally operates as the macroeconomic engine of the country. But if these leaders refuse to yield, their respective parties will continue to cannibalize each other's voter base while this economic engine stalls. Political maturity means recognizing that ideological purity and the need for personal vindication cannot come at the expense of a functional nation.Repairing this divide does not require ActionSA to capitulate or the DA to compromise its core identity. Zille and the DA must acknowledge Mashaba’s success in putting marginalized communities on the urban agenda, while Mashaba must accept that splintering the opposition weakened their collective power. They do not need to merge, nor do they need to like each other. However, they must establish a joint platform for clean, accountable local government.The time for waiting on the better angels of unbonded Hydrogen atoms is over. Residents whose taps have run dry and whose businesses are failing cannot afford another term of political grandstanding. .Read more:.Justice Malala: An Iron Lady and a billionaire signal South Africa’s political maturity.If coalition politics is here to stay, voters must make it unequivocally clear that their ballots are conditional on shared ideology and cooperation. The macroeconomic survival of South Africa is too important to be held hostage by the egos of politicians and power plays of political parties. It is now time to dissuade division and demand the unified, functioning government this country deserves..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here. Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Helen, Herman and Hydrogen. Are egos holding a third of SA’s economy hostage?

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