Herman Mashaba, former Johannesburg mayor and ActionSA leader, has strongly rejected allegations made in a new book Malema Money. Power. Patronage., calling them part of an effort to tarnish his record. The book is authored by investigative reporters Micah Reddy and Pauli van Wyk, who did extensive work exposing state capture corruption.

The allegations surround the relationship between Mr Mashaba and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and alleged corruption implicating the EFF at City Power during Mr Mashaba’s tenure as mayor of Johannesburg. According to ActionSA, “the alleged possession of an email claiming that Mashaba informed the EFF of details about the incoming City Power CEO cannot be verified, as we have never seen it. Even if valid, it would not be irregular”.

In an official statement, ActionSA described the book as an effort to tarnish Mashaba’s record and the party challenged the timing and motive of the book’s release, saying, “it is highly convenient that Mashaba, the only person standing in the way of Zille’s mayoral ambitions in Johannesburg, should be the subject of a baseless hatchet job…[and that] the DA has attempted to brand Mashaba as an “EFF Mayor”, the very slant adopted in this book, not so coincidentally”.