Mashaba says municipalities need ethical leaders, not friends
The former Johannesburg mayor told eNCA that running a council is harder than running a business and that voters must first put the right people in power.
Herman Mashaba says the problems in Johannesburg and other municipalities come down to one thing: ethical leadership.
Speaking to eNCA, the former Johannesburg mayor said councils need people who go into government to serve residents, not to surround themselves with friends. He said the priority should be a professional public service and that voters carry the first responsibility by putting the right people into power.
Once elected, he said, those leaders must serve with pride and ethical values and must not steal public money. He drew a comparison between running a municipality and running a home or a business, but argued that government is the harder job.
A business has to make a profit, he said, while government employs large numbers of people and often inherits what he described as a broken system that is not easy to fix. It is possible, he said, but it needs someone tough enough to take tough decisions.
Mashaba also named what he would not tolerate in a public service: laziness and people who are not committed to serving the public.
Source: eNCA (YouTube), Municipalities simply need ethical leadership - Herman Mashaba
