Herman Mashaba- Bio, Age, Net Worth, 5 Facts About The Former Mayor Of Johannesburg

Herman Mashaba is a black South African Politician who is widely known as a man who grew through struggles and rose to become a Mayor of Johannesburg, a city in South Africa. He was the chief executive of the City Council and had the highest elected position in the city of Johannesburg, from 2016 to 2019.

Philosophically, Herman is known to be a libertarian and capitalist crusader who preaches and considers his most priced cause to be attaining ‘individual freedom’ for all South Africans.

Herman Mashaba is currently the President of a South African Political Party which was established to reset South Africa and free her citizens from the bondage of failed political systems while building a better, functional, and non-racial environment for South African. The Political Party is called ActionSA.

Biography Of Herman Mashaba

Herman Mashaba was born on the 26^th of August 1959 in Garamoste, Hammanskraal, Gauteng. He was mostly under the supervision of his sisters as his mother who worked as a domestic staff was away most of the time trying to earn enough to fend for the family.

Herman grew up in abject poverty. He and his siblings were some of the poorest children in their neighborhood as things were quite tough for them. He watched his elder brother who dropped out of school at the age of 15 moves from one meager paying job to another and it was at this point that Herman realized that education and finishing up with school was very important and so he struggled to keep himself in school and finish up his education.

However, this wasn’t a very easy task as Herman could only afford to finish up his secondary school education and wasn’t able to complete his tertiary education at the University of Pretoria due to political unrest and when normalcy was restored, he had no more zeal for school.

He did not let this deter him from accomplishing his goals in life, though. As a great strategist, Herman kept on pushing in life and had a life-changing experience which he so loves to share about how he bought himself a car and drove out of the car dealers without knowing how to drive nor having a driver’s license.

His self-confidence contributed a great deal to his success in life as he moved from one opportunity to a better one starting off with his job as a sales rep and moving up the ladder to becoming the company’s top sales personnel. This feat earned him a great name.

While at his job at ‘SuperKurl’ where he was the top seller, he realized that not only was he good at making sales but he also had a knack for the products he sold and this birthed a new idea and zeal in his heart which he pursued. This idea was to own a hair brand in South Africa and he fought the government really hard to see this through. Now the brand is one of the biggest hair brands in South Africa and it is named ‘Black Like Me’.

Soon, Herman realized that he didn’t have a thing for just business and sales, he found out that he had a huge interest in politics. This interest grew from the fact that he went through quite a lot in the hands of apartheid-filled government to birth his ideas and see his dreams come through and it was a motivating factor for him to try to better the lives of South Africans and do right for and by his people.

He ventured into politics and as the go-getter he is, in 2012, he succeeded and became the chairman of the Free Market Foundation, a position he held for two years.  He stepped down as the chairman of the FMF and became a member of the Democratic Alliance. He announced he would be contesting for the mayoral position of Johannesburg in December 2015 as he planned on accepting the nomination to stand as the Democratic Alliance’ candidate.

On the 22^nd of August 2016, after the elections, Herman was sworn in as the city councilor of Johannesburg, and later that same day, he was ultimately sworn in as the Mayor of Johannesburg.

Herman Mashaba fought ‘tooth and nail’ to lift his family from the restraint of poverty. He and his family had to go through the struggles of making sacrifices just to see that they were all fine and could at least eat. Nothing much is known about his dad but his mum, elder brother, and sister were the most important people to him and he struggled with them to make sure all was well and this motivated him to do all he did and became who he had to become to change his story from what it was growing up in poverty to being a millionaire now.

Herman Mashaba’s Age

Herman Mashaba was born on the 26 of August 1959 and this puts his present age to be 65 years.

Herman Mashaba’s Net Worth

Johannesburg and indeed one of SA’s millionaire, top business mogul, and politician, Herman Mashaba has a net worth that amounts to the sum of $100 million. We can attribute this great sum to the fact that Herman Mashaba due to his great strategies has made himself indispensable to businesses. He has held and still holds several top positions in various companies and organizations.

Here Are Five Facts About Herman You Didn’t Know

1. Herman Mashaba Makes It To History Books

Herman Mashaba is the first Mayor of Johannesburg to win the position outside the party of the African National Congress (ANC). He won the position with the Democratic Alliance Party.

2. Mashaba’s Marital Status

He is married and has two children. His wife’s name is Connie Mashaba and his kids are named Khensansi Mashaba and Rhulani Mashaba.

SEE ALSO: Dee Koala- Biography, Net Worth, 10 Facts About The South African Rapper

3. Herman Mashaba Is An Author

He is a pianist and author who has written three books. The first book titled ‘Capital Crusader: Fighting Poverty Through Economic Growth’ was published in 2015, The second book he wrote is an autobiography released in 2017 titled ‘Black Like You’, and the third book which is his most recent publication is a memoir themed ‘Accidental Mayor’.

4. His Views On Foreigners Are Unorthodox.

Herman Mashaba has made a number of public statements which indicate traces of xenophobia although he tried justifying these statements with explanations of what he meant. These statements and even some views have been considered to be strongly xenophobic and have been linked to incidences where he said South Africa has nothing to apologize for in reference to the xenophobic attacks. He insists that the president should focus on the high rising cases of sex trafficking and unemployment in the country.

5. Herman Mashaba Is Running For Mayor Again

He has indicated an interest in running for the mayoral position in Johannesburg once again. Since resigning from his position at the Democratic Alliance and invariably giving up his position in 2019, he set up his own political party called the ActionSA where he would be contesting for the mayor of Johannesburg as the candidate elect.

The election is slated to hold in October of 2021.

Complete profile of Herman Mashaba