Alexandra protesters boo Herman Mashaba off stage

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba  was heckled by angry Alexandra residents on Monday during a meeting called to address service delivery concerns.

A rowdy group in ANC regalia first disrupted the meeting by singing and then tearing up documentation on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) plan. Some then pelted Mashaba and his delegation with papers and empty water bottles.

Mashaba was expected to present the IDP plan  on Tuesday evening at the Marlboro Community Centre in Marlboro Gardens. 

Last week residents took to the streets as part of the so-called #AlexTotalShutDown protests, raising issues of poor service delivery including housing and crime.

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Mashaba’s planned address followed more than a week of not addressing residents after he was called on to do so. He was adamant when addressing the media that he could not just drop everything to meet the community.

Gauteng premier David Makhura and President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the area last week.

Ramaphosa called on Mashaba and the DA-led government of Johannesburg to clean up Alexandra and remarked on the mayor's failure to meet with the community.

Asked about the comments, Mashaba said that if Ramaphosa was an “honest man” he would have “long gone to Marikana where our people were murdered under his instructions”.

Mashaba and the DA have blamed the protests on the ANC as part of an election plot to destabilise the DA-led government. DA leader Mmusi Maimane has asked for a meeting with the police commissioner Khehla Sitole about the matter. The ANC has denied the allegation. 

Ramaphosa, who was dressed in ANC colours when he went to the township, said he would send ministers in his cabinet to determine a plan of action as well as ask the provincial government to work with Mashaba.

Asked if he would work with the provincial government, Mashaba said instructions should not come from an ANC rally. However, he undertook to meet with the provincial government on Tuesday.