ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has pulled out of the Johannesburg mayoral race, giving the DA the upper hand against the ANC.
After the DA scooped the position of council speaker with the help of ActionSA, among others, Mashaba pulled out of the race for the mayoral chain.
As a result, only two candidates were nominated for the city's top political office — the DA's Mpho Phalatse and ANC's Mpho Moerane. It was not immediately clear why Mashaba pulled out but if the results for the position of speaker are anything to go by, Phalatse appears set to triumph against Moerane.
The EFF was the deciding vote in the speaker contest, with the DA's Vasco da Gama winning by 29 votes — the exact number of seats the red berets have in the council.Voting for the mayorship was to continue at the Brixton Multi-purpose Centre in Johannesburg after a brief recess.