ActionSA to lay bribery charges against DA officials

11 October 2022

ActionSA will tomorrow, Wednesday 12 October, lay criminal charges of bribery against senior leaders of the Democratic Alliance (DA) including its KZN Provincial Chairperson, Dean Macpherson, for attempting to bribe an ActionSA councillor from Newcastle.

This comes after images surfaced of ActionSA ward councillor of Newcastle, Shandy Singh, meeting with DA Leader, John Steenhuisen, Former Chief of Staff to Helen Zille, Ashor Sarupen, DA KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Chairperson, Dean Macpherson, and DA KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Leader, Francois Rogers.

ActionSA has been reliably informed that this meeting was convened to offer Mr Singh inducements to leave ActionSA and fill the DA vacancy in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature arising from the resignation of its Chief Whip, Zwakele Mncwango.

Newcastle Municipality has recently been won away from the ANC in the 2021 Local Government Elections and is now under narrow coalition government led by the IFP. Any effort to induce a by-election in a ward won with 30% of the vote would likely be seized by the ANC and used as an effort to restore an ANC government to the municipality.

We call upon the DA to place the residents of Newcastle ahead of any personal efforts to settle political scores with ActionSA. As an organisation that purports to be principled and committed to the rule of law, it is inconceivable that financial inducements would be used to bribe public representatives.

Issued by Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson, ActionSA, 11 October 2022