Episode 05 - Herman Mashaba
Herman Mashaba is the leader and founder of ActionSA, one of the new opposition parties that has popped up in recent years. The party itself was founded in 2020 and has only contested one election, the local government elections in 2021. The core values of the party are non-racialism, belief in the free-market, social justice, the rule of law and ethical leadership.
In the interview Herman was incredibly scathing about the current ANC administration, saying that they are a ‘criminal syndicate’ and referring to the party members as ‘communists’. His harshest critique of the ANC was that he does not think that the lives of most South Africans have improved under ANC rule as opposed to NP rule during apartheid, stating that the ANC is to blame for the lawlessness, collapsing public services and corruption that ravages this country.
His ire with the other parties in South Africa did not end with the ANC however, as he made the point when asked what separates ActionSA from the DA given the similar policy positions of the parties across different areas, that, ‘I think that it is an insult to South Africans to say that the DA believes in a non-racial South Africa (58:44).’ He also felt unhappy with the behaviour of the DA in the Johannesburg coalition, as he thought that they acted ‘arrogantly’ by behaving as though they had a two-thirds majority and not treating their coalition partners as equals.
Moving away from his opinions of the other political parties, ActionSA has a policy platform grounded in the key values of the party. One of the primary policy areas that they are focused on is the economy, and on this front they are very clear, they see the free market as the best tool for South Africa to have sustained growth rates. Herman is a staunch capitalist, going so far as to say, ‘I’m a devout capitalist, I love that system, it has given me the privilege I have enjoyed over the last 40 years (19:22).’
On the other hand, ActionSA also puts an emphasis on social justice, which they conceptualise as providing equal opportunity to all citizens as opposed to equal outcomes. ‘The mistake any society can make is to try and determine the outcome. What I think is important is for government to create equal opportunities, but the outcome you can’t determine (41:40).’ Speaking practically this entails providing means for poor South Africans to have access to quality public services, healthcare and education that allows them to compete on an equal footing against those who have been born into more prosperous homes.
In order to provide this increase in quality service delivery, ActionSA has a few major policy positions. They wish to develop a capable public service by only employing those who are capable of fulfilling the roles they are employed in, alongside this Herman wishes to see a skills audit done of all public servants to ensure that people are in positions in government because of their capabilities. With specific regard to energy he is in favour of private power producers being allowed to compete on equal footing with Eskom. Finally, he wishes to see the privitization of SOEs he views as unnecessary such as SAA.
Our conversation ended as all of them do, with discussions on what he sees as the possible coalition options available to ActionSA following the 2024 elections. Herman said that he is absolutely unwilling to consider a coalition with the ANC, to be expected given the views he expressed about the party earlier on, but outside of the ANC he is willing to work with any party as long as they enter coalition negotiations openly and treat their partners as equals in the process. One can only hope that this is enough to ensure that South Africa can secure a sustainable and fruitful coalition in government after the next election.
