DOCUMENTS

Bongani Baloyi joins ActionSA - Herman Mashaba

Former DA mayor of Midvaal has a track record of excellence and good judgment, says party president

ActionSA Welcomes Bongani Baloyi into its Ranks

24 January 2022

Today I have the great pleasure of welcoming Bongani Baloyi into the ranks of ActionSA.

Baloyi’s reputation in South African politics has arisen from a blend of his youth and the excellence he achieved as the Mayor of Midvaal Municipality.

In 2013, at the age of 26, Baloyi became the youngest Mayor in South Africa when he was elected to be the Mayor of Midvaal Municipality.

Baloyi’s reputation of excellence is well founded with:

  • Midvaal Municipality receiving 7 consecutive clean audits under his leadership.
  • Midvaal being ranked the 5th best performing municipality in South Africa in 2020 and consistently awarded the best municipality in Gauteng.
  • Midvaal boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the province at just 12%.
  • Awarded the Golden Arrow award by PMR Africa for doing the most to combat crime, create jobs, clean up the environment and develop infrastructure.

One of the features that impressed me about Baloyi was my engagements with him when I launched ActionSA, and I sought to bring him into the party. He remained committed to see out his term of office for the people of Midvaal, even if he was politically willing, and he wanted to leave with dignity.

Baloyi’s joining of ActionSA does not take place in a vacuum.

The results achieved by ActionSA have positioned the party such that we have been overwhelmed by South Africans joining our ranks. I am informed that our party membership doubled in the week following the elections.

Ordinary South Africans from all walks of life, races, genders and creeds have responded to ActionSA becoming a party that is a home to all South Africans. Particularly, people have responded to ActionSA’s achievements in winning support from the ANC because South Africans can see, for the first time, how vulnerable the ANC is for 2024.

This year is going to be definitive for ActionSA’s 2024 prospects of unseating the ANC. The work of expanding from our current position to being a party with a national footprint represented in all 9 provinces is a massive undertaking. However, ActionSA has had structures in all 9 provinces for some time, many of whom were disappointed not to contest in 2021 and they are itching to launch their campaigns. 

An important part of our efforts to grow our party to be the challenger that South Africans need in 2024 is the need to deepen our leadership pool within ActionSA. For ActionSA to grow we will need more leaders with their own voices bringing the kind of skills, experience, youthfulness and excellence that Baloyi epitomises.

In this respect ActionSA can promise South Africa a long list of high-profile individuals, throughout the course of 2022, that will be joining our party and demonstrating the momentum we will carry in 2024.

Statement issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 24 January 2022