ActionSA – Free to craft its own future

16 September 2024

Our Key Messages:

-  ActionSA is an independent political party and has never been an appendage of another. It will remain independent in perpetuity.

- ActionSA remains true to its founding principles and commitments, including non-racialism, building a prosperous, inclusive economy with zero tolerance for all forms of corruption and other abuses of public office, etc.

-  ActionSA will always support stable governance at all levels and will not be party to abusive coalitions that mislead the public.

Following a lot of misleading and possibly malicious conjecture it is understandable that the media and public have begun to speculate on the extent to which ActionSA has been its own agent, it is important that we set the record straight once and for all.

We do this also mindful of ongoing speculation over whether ActionSA is being driven by anything other than public interest, as it decides to leave the current multiparty government of the Tshwane Metro, headed by a DA Executive Mayor. We shall never take such serious decisions on a whim, just to satisfy anyone’s ego or to simply spite anyone, especially when there is a government already in place that works for the people of, in this case, Tshwane.

We have always spoken against unnecessary changes to governments that work but we cannot, with a clear conscience, remain quiet in the face of clear abuses of public confidence through spin, especially where the management of public finances is concerned. ActionSA will always stand for the truth.

We’re also quite aware of the confusion caused by ongoing events in Tshwane, with some people  thinking that ActionSA plans to blindly go into a coalition in support of an ANC it has always sworn to never support. We will never support, nor allow ActionSA to be used, to shield corruption and other forms of abuses, irrespective of whom we get into a coalition with.

The decision to consider an alternative municipal coalition government for Tshwane - dictated by both the multiparty post-electoral reality in South Africa and the many instances of mismanagement we have witnessed in Tshwane – has not been taken lightly, without deep introspection and deliberation by ActionSA’s Senate, our party’s highest decision-making body. But it is a decision we’re prepared to defend because we believe that what we propose will be a better alternative to current abuses of trust, details of which we shall expose at the right time.

In as far as the Tshwane Metro is concerned, we would like both the media and Tshwane residents to allow us a bit more time to consult with various possible coalition partners for the best outcome. The results of these consultations will be made public as soon as they are concluded.

Everyone should rest assured that should we fail to secure an alternative coalition government we can confidently be part of, ActionSA will happily rejoin the opposition benches in Tshwane.   

All scenarios being considered are premised on the condition that all parties to be involved take a clear, public, stance to regard corruption as ‘Public Enemy Number One’ and that it will never be countenanced in any way.

And let this be clear, ActionSA remains steadfast in its determination to see clean and effective governance at national, provincial, and municipal levels throughout South Africa.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, Action SA party leader, 16 September 2024