Tshwane Mayor Charts Rightward Course as Global Governance Models Diverge

Tshwane’s municipal administration under Mayor Nasiphi Moya has become one of the clearest local expressions of a rightward political shift that has reshaped governance across multiple democracies. The recent victory of Zohran Mamdani in New York’s mayoral race offers a pointed contrast: a model that foregrounds public institutional responsibility over enforcement-driven populism.

South Africa’s drift in this direction has been building for years. Operation Dudula, a civilian vigilante group, gained prominence by blocking foreign nationals from accessing free primary healthcare. More recently, movements such as March and March adopted nationalist and tribalist rhetoric anchored in Zulu nationalism, with leaders in traditional attire conducting raids in townships and informal settlements against undocumented migrants. These movements mirror a political style that has travelled globally from America, wrapping themselves in national flags, weaponizing patriotism and attributing social failures to migration. ActionSA has built its political base on this rhetoric, and its influence now defines much of how Tshwane is governed.

Additional reference context is available at https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2026-08-20-a-new-politics-for-tshwane/.

Critical analysis of Mayor Moya’s administration reveals how deeply these ideas have become embedded in municipal policy. The governance model thrives on populist logic rather than structural reform. Demolition campaigns target small businesses primarily in poorer and emerging communities, yet rarely address the systemic causes of poverty. The administration opposes council motions aimed at long-term poverty relief, including worker insourcing, while favoring visible enforcement campaigns against informal traders. The result is an impression of decisive action with root causes left untouched.

Meanwhile, major structural challenges remain largely unaddressed. Tshwane’s whites-only settlement of Kleinfontein persists largely unchallenged. The rising cost of living continues to squeeze working-class families. Young black professionals increasingly cannot afford housing near economic opportunities, forcing them to remain in townships and spend significant portions of their salaries commuting. These are rarely the issues mobilizing the city’s resources. Raids and enforcement operations dominate, with no accompanying programs for affordable rental housing, rent stabilization or social housing in the inner city.

The contrast with Mamdani’s political approach is instructive. Rather than asking who to blame, his politics asks what public institutions can do to improve people’s lives. His proposals, from rent freezes to expanding public services, begin with the assumption that government has a responsibility to make life more affordable rather than simply policing poverty.

Tshwane’s recent targeting of illegal daycare operations illustrates the governance problem directly. Early childhood development centres are not simply businesses operating outside the law. They represent a long tradition of social democratic and feminist struggle, the product of the same organizing that won maternity leave and labour protections. Affordable childcare is essential public infrastructure, yet women in inner cities are disproportionately affected by shortages because they bear primary caregiving responsibility while working to support families.

Municipalities often criminalize these centres rather than supporting them. Registering ECD centres requires municipalities to make land available, provide planning support and create tariff structures enabling legal operation. Without that municipal support, many operators have little choice but to function informally. Treating them as criminal enterprises misses the fundamental point: they are evidence of systemic failure, not criminality.

If the city refuses to create conditions for affordable childcare, who is expected to care for the children of street traders, domestic workers, security guards and other low-income workers who keep cities functioning daily? The question exposes the gap between enforcement-focused governance and genuine public responsibility.

Mamdani’s victory is a reminder that another politics is possible, rooted in social democratic care rather than fear, in solidarity rather than scapegoating. If South Africa has so readily borrowed the politics of Maga, perhaps it is time to also borrow the politics of hope. Municipal politics that generate headlines through enforcement offer few long-term solutions to inequality. What is needed is a politics willing to imagine better cities, especially for the poor. That requires mayors who understand that the city’s role is not merely to police poverty but to eradicate the conditions that produce it. Whether Tshwane’s current administration is capable of that shift remains the open question.