ActionSA turns 3 with the sky as the limit

29 August 2023

Today ActionSA celebrates its 3rd birthday as a political party launched on 29 August 2020 from a live studio broadcast in the middle of a COVID-19 lockdown.

From this unprecedented environment, ActionSA has contested its first local government election and established itself in all nine provinces and is placed on a rapid growth path to the 2024 national and provincial elections.

In ActionSA’s first elections, the party contested only 6 municipalities out of the 278 municipalities across the country. Despite this, ActionSA emerged as the 6th largest party in South Africa with 2.37% of the national vote. This is why ActionSA’s contestation across all 9 provinces, after 3 years of growth, offers South Africans an exciting national prospect as a political alternative.

Importantly, ActionSA emerged as the most diverse political party in South Africa at the grassroots level of its support – achieving similar levels of support across townships, suburbs, informal settlements and CBDs. ActionSA celebrates this feature of our party because South Africa needs a genuinely diverse political home that brings together all South Africans.

ActionSA has contested a number of by-elections since 2021 to demonstrate the onward growth path of the party. In the rural north of Pretoria ActionSA increased from 6% to 22% of the vote, while in the outskirts of Soweto ActionSA grew from 11% to 23%. Most recently, in Ennerdale and Finetown, ActionSA grew from 5% to 15%, registering 25% support in previously ANC voting districts. Breaking out of Gauteng, ActionSA has recorded 8% of the vote in Kwanobuhle in the Eastern Cape, 9% in Moletjie in Limpopo and 11% in Kwanongoma in rural KZN.

Since the 2021 elections, ActionSA has established structures in all 9 provinces led by strong Provincial Chairpersons who have established structures across the districts of their provinces. To date, ActionSA has more than 225 000 members and has branches launched in 30% of the 4468 wards across South Africa. Every week new branches are being launched because ActionSA has placed a premium on establishing structures to carry our election offering to the street corners and doorsteps of all South Africans.

ActionSA is poised to deliver on its inaugural policy conference on 12 – 14 September 2023 where hundreds of ActionSA delegates from around the country will come together to adopt the party’s policy offering. This comes after months of policy panels where professionals from relevant industries have counselled ActionSA on the solutions needed to South Africa’s greatest challenges. This process looks set to present a policy suite that will be unique in South Africa for its practical solutions to the lived realities of all South Africans.

Despite ActionSA’s relative initial success, the party remains humble and grounded in the proverbial mountain that still needs to be climbed by the party.

Our Senate has just concluded its final strategic planning session for the 2024 campaign and has concluded that our campaign will be positive, will not focus on other political parties or leaders and will centre on ActionSA’s solutions to the most pressing problems confronting South Africans. South Africans can expect an election message from ActionSA that stands out from all other parties in terms of how it focuses on their issues and not those of politicians.

Our most significant focus in the immediate short term is the registration of South Africans ahead of the 18 and 19 November IEC registration weekend. ActionSA’s activities over the past 6 months have identified tens of thousands of ActionSA supporters who need to register to vote for the first time and the identification of further supporters will be the priority going forward.

While ActionSA proudly forms part of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, we are unapologetic that the best contribution that our party can bring is the biggest possible result in next year’s elections. There can be no question that ActionSA has the distinct ability to attract ANC supporters in all nine provinces and that a larger ActionSA is needed for stability and maturity to take root in the coalitions that may follow the 2024 elections.

Today, ActionSA marks 3 years of proud service to the South African people and doubles down on our commitment to be the political alternative that so many South Africans are desperately looking for. We commit ourselves to reaching more towns and villages and presenting our unique offer to more South Africans on new street corners across our country.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 29 August 2023