ActionSA Election Poster Unveiling: Only Action Will Fix South Africa

23 February 2024

Note to editor: These remarks were made by ActionSA President, Herman Mashaba, at the unveiling of ActionSA’s election Poster outside the Carlton Centre Hotel in Johannesburg today.

Members of the media,

Fellow Actioners,

And most importantly: you, my fellow South Africans,

I greet you in front of the historic Carlton Hotel in the heart of Johannesburg’s inner city to unveil ActionSA’s election posters for the watershed 2024 national elections.

We have chosen this location for what it symbolises about the decline of South Africa under the ruling party over the past 30 years, and its failure to deliver on the promise of a better life for all.

The Carlton Hotel was once known as the jewel of the Johannesburg inner city. It was a world-renowned five-star hotel and hosted many celebrities including Whitney Houston, Mick Jagger and Whoopi Goldberg.

It was for this reason that, in May 1994, the ANC chose this very location to host its election victory celebrations. Many of the country's top black industrialists and entrepreneurs who contributed to the ANC’s election campaign, including myself, were invited to attend this auspicious event.

The symbolism of the ANC hosting its victory celebrations in this hotel, which had its heyday during the darkest days of apartheid, was not lost on us. It spoke to a shift from a minority-owned economy, to one where all South Africans would share in its wealth.

Like many South Africans at the time, I was excited about what a post-apartheid South Africa had to offer and eagerly contributed financially to help bring about democratic change.

It was my dream that no longer would my employees and I be limited in where we could sell our products due to senseless pass laws. I’d be allowed to freely work with my business partners without government interference.

I bought into their promise of a “better life for all” and eagerly looked forward to a government that would improve the lives of our people by creating millions of new jobs by unlocking the potential of a new generation of black entrepreneurs. I believed this would usher in a new era of shared economic prosperity. I believed my story of Black Like Me would be replicated in factories across the country.

But, I would be left sorely disappointed.

Just a couple years after the ANC hosted its victory celebrations at the Carlton Hotel, it permanently closed its doors.

The rise of lawlessness in the Johannesburg inner city made it unfeasible to continue operations, while a breakdown in service delivery made the inner city unattractive to inhabitants and tourists alike.

Infrastructure was left to decay or be vandalised, crime and grime set in, and investment in new infrastructure came to a near standstill.

When Transnet bought the building complex in 1999, proposal after proposal was accepted to renovate the precinct but nothing ever came of it as the inner city deteriorated.

I saw this firsthand during my time as Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, raiding buildings that had been hijacked by criminal syndicates and were subjecting residents to the most inhumane of conditions.

The story of what happened to the Carlton Hotel would be replicated across the City of Johannesburg, and indeed across South Africa under the ruling party.

Today, the Ga-Rankuwa Industrial Park, where I helped launch Black Like Me in 1985, is a deserted shadow of its former self as the manufacturing sector left South Africa in search of more favourable alternatives overseas, with greater incentives, a lower cost of doing business, and governments that consider the private sector to be a partner, not an adversary.

Economic growth stalled, averaging 1% over 15 years, while our expanded unemployment rate exponentially grew to over 40% - the highest in decades.

Today, over 26 million South Africans are dependent on social grants for basic survival. That is nothing to celebrate: it is black South Africans who remain the worst off in our society.

Fellow South Africans,

The promise of a “better life for all” that Mandela celebrated at the Carlton Centre in 1994 did not become a reality.

Thirty years since 1994, most of our people are struggling and poverty is on the rise. The brief gains we made shortly after democracy have been reversed through corruption, the breakdown of the rule of law and selfish, unpatriotic leaders.

Misguided economic policies such as the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 were designed to enrich a select few such as President Cyril Ramaphosa himself, while communities such as Khayelitsha and Orange Farm were left behind.

Instead of growing a broad, black middle class, the ruling party chose to benefit a small group of politically connected entrepreneurs who became wealthy through the exploitation of state resources. During the State Capture years, this was nothing less than outright, shameless looting.

But, despite the signs of concern, South Africa’s story will not end here. A new chapter is being written as we speak.

Fellow South Africans,

This year, we have the first real opportunity to bring positive change and hope to South Africa and remove a cruel government that has failed to deliver on its promises after 30 years in government.

This year, we have the opportunity to try something new by taking action to remove the ruling party and replace it with a government that will put the needs of South Africans first.

But, we will not do this as armchair critics or by sitting on our hands. It was when I realised this that I entered politics in 2015. I made the decision to take action, and today I want to ask you to do the same.

Fellow South Africans,

Counter to what some people would like us to believe, South Africans do not need to be rescued.

In a democracy, citizens are not helpless victims waiting for rescue as if drowning at sea.

Instead, South African citizens are strong and resilient with the agency to make decisions that will determine their future. They have the power to fix South Africa by taking action.

Because only action will fix South Africa.

In the face of a failing government, enterprising, industrious and innovative citizens and the private sector stepped up to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, they have fixed potholes, generated electricity, and protected their communities from crime.

When faced with the biggest crises in our country, it was ordinary South Africans who took action that helped us move forward.

Because only action will fix South Africa.

And this year, every day South Africans will again take action to fix South Africa. It is this desire to take action to fix South Africa that unites us as a nation.

Because only action can fix South Africa.

This year, South Africans must take action by exercising their right to vote and hold this failed government to account.

We must take action to vote for a new government that can end load shedding, restore the rule of law, grow our economy and create millions of new jobs.

We cannot expect to do the same thing and expect a different result. We cannot expect that by continuing to vote for the ruling party things may change.

Instead, we need to be brave and consider a new alternative that will unite South Africans with the common goal of fixing this country we love.

We need a new party of action, with accurate, practical, and actionable solutions to our most significant challenges.

We need a party that will take action to put South Africa and South Africans first, not just work to enrich themselves.

We need a party that will take action to restore business confidence and inspire private-sector investments in our economy to create millions of new jobs.

We need a party that will take action to restore the rule of law, provide quality education for all, and ensure access to good healthcare even in rural communities.

And we need a party that take action to protect South African sovereignty, secure our borders and implement a foreign policy guided by human rights and the pursuit of mutual economic benefit.

Fellow South Africans,

We don’t need more of the same; we don’t need more empty promises.

The time for talking is over. Now is the time for action.

Because only action can fix South Africa.

Issued by Action SA, 23 February 2024