Statement on resignation from the Freedom Front Minus to Join Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA
3 November 2020
Today, I have officially resigned as the DA Youth Chairperson in Johannesburg and as a Councillor representing the DA in the City of Johannesburg Council. My decision to leave the organization came after the DA Federal Congress held this weekend. It is clear that the DA has abandoned the principle of diversity and the project of being a serious contender to the ANC. As the Regional Youth Chairperson in Johannesburg, I have been constantly inundated by young members of the DA who are distraught by the direction of the DA and its racial denialism.
They feel forgotten by the DA, left behind, and shut out of the organization by its re-branding as the Freedom Front Minus. I have decided to join ActionSA as a member and volunteer - with a personal mission to help build the organization and to ultimately rally the youth of South Africa behind the vision of ActionSA.
I am deeply moved by ActionSA’s commitment to being a home for young people and it is already clear that the youth of South Africa are aligning themselves to ActionSA. I have complete conviction that Action SA is destined to become the political movement that the young people have been waiting for, and organization that will reflect the diversity of our country and challenge the ANC for power rather than just being in opposition for oppositions sake. Young people in our country know that politicians have failed them in every way.
Political parties ignore the voices of their youth, so their policies and programmes do nothing to advance the interests of young people. To make things worse, they must now hear from the DA that their race has no bearing on these challenges. Young people live with unemployment levels approaching 60%.
Young people leave schools with sub-standard education, the vast majority will not be able to access tertiary education and those who do find themselves up to their necks in debt. In short too many young people face a life without hope and have given up on our political system. Young people, now than ever before, need something new and something different in our political system.
ActionSA represents this change, a political party that puts the interests of people before politicians, a party that is bringing South Africans together from all backgrounds to Act as One. I commit myself to ActionSA’s plans to build a party that is a political home for young people in South Africa. I call upon all young South Africans to come forward to join ActionSA and, together, lets Act as One for a country where young people can build their own future.
Issued by Lincoln Machaba, DA Youth Chairperson Johannesburg Region, 3 November 2020
