Let’s fix South Africa final rally

28 October 2021

Note to editors: The following remarks were delivered by Herman Mashaba, President of ActionSA, at the Let’s Fix South Africa Rally in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Good Morning, 

Dumelang, 

Molweni, 

Sanibonani, 

Goeie More, 

Avuxeni, 

Ndaa, 

Six years ago, if you had told me that I would soon become the leader of a political party, I would have said that you, are mad.

If you told me this political party would be on the cusp of leading the removal from power of the evil criminal enterprise which masquerades as a political party that has been abusing our country for 27 years, I would have personally arranged for your committal to an institution.

This job has never been something that I aspired to. Like many of you, it was something I was happy to leave to politicians.

But, like many more of you, I watched as politicians looted our country.

I watched as they lied, and, made promises they never intended to keep.

I watched, as they created the worst sustainable unemployment rate in the world.

I watched as they took a country, alive with hope and potential, and tried to kill it with their greed, their rank incompetence and their unquestioning political loyalty.

I watched, as the political party that I joined deceived even me, by first committing to challenging and removing the ANC, all the while changing to become what I did not want – a permanent opposition party. 

I knew I had to do something. Either I had to run or I had to fight.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and fellow countrymen, it is not in my nature to run.

I overcame an evil system that would have preferred I restrict myself to a set of defined job opportunities. I used my God-given talents to build something which today allows me to play my part and help FIX South Africa.

So, I did what I thought best.

I joined hands with the millions of good, freedom-loving, family-orientated and law-abiding South Africans who shared my vision, and, we created this party, TOGETHER.

It‘s a fact that many people asked me to start a party, but millions of everyday South Africans have made this party what it is.

33 million of you engaged us in The People’s Dialogue.

2.4 Million sent us written submissions.

Over 200 000 have officially registered as members or volunteers.

This is OUR party!

We have built it together and, my goodness, we have made the establishment shake to its core!

Our first attempt at registering as a political party was refused.

As I speak to you today, we had had to print special signage for voting stations, just to show voters where to find us on the ballot paper, because they would not put our name on the ballot.

Established political parties have spent millions attacking this new party, with radio adverts, practically begging people not to vote for us.

The question that arises from all of this is; Why would ActionSA, a party established only a year ago, receive such a response?

Honestly, why?

Let me tell you.

It is because we are a threat.

It is because people are fed up with them.

People are GATVOL.

It is because people are looking for something else.

It is because our tracking polls and their tracking polls, all say the same thing – ActionSA is going to remove failing governments and replace them with service delivery, corruption-fighting, and job creation.

More than ever before, this election can be reduced to one simple question that more and more South Africans are asking themselves.

Do I want more of what I have had before?

Do I want more corruption?

Do I want more incompetent public service?

that attempted to fool us all with the idea that Cyril Ramaphosa would change our country with his ‘New Dawn.’ Do I want more unemployment?

Friends, we all know the answers.

And it doesn’t matter whether these established political parties wear yellow, blue or red – the truth is that they have let us down as a country.

The ANC is a criminal syndicate, not a political party, that attempted to fool us all with the idea that Cyril Ramaphosa would change our country with his ‘New Dawn.’

The DA tells you it “gets things done”, but ask the people of our capital city if they agree after 3 Mayors and a Provincial Administrator in just 5 years.

The EFF loves anarchy, proposes policies that will destroy this country, sips tea with Jacob Zuma in Nkandla, and want to open our borders to start the United States of Africa.

To them I say; you can go try that nonsense far away from here.

Not in South Africa and not on ActionSA’s watch.

South Africa will not be a country that failed countries outsource their mismanagement and problems to us.

Is it any wonder why people have given up on politics in our country?

Let me tell you this much; I have travelled in this campaign. I have been in the homes of all kinds of South Africans.

I have visited every community; I have heard every language and I have spoken to young and old.

The truth is that, across the board, people want something new. They want something different. They want something that is going to offer hope and put them first.

They will no longer tolerate anything which puts the interests of politicians as well as their friends and family ahead of everybody else’s.

THIS is why, ActiocnSA is a threat to the established political parties.

We have assembled a leadership that has a track record in fighting corruption that no other party can so much as dream of coming close to.

When I was Mayor of Joburg I didn’t just talk about fighting corruption. I actually fought it.

I appointed a former Scorpion to set up an anti-corruption unit which then investigated 6000 cases of corruption, totalling more than R35 billion in transactions, leading to over 800 arrests.

Dr Makhosi Khoza, our eThekwini Mayoral Candidate, became an even bigger household name in this country, when she stood up to Jacob Zuma in the height of his power and said “I will vote for an opposition sponsored motion of no confidence in you for selling out our country.”

The reason why we have a State Capture Commission of Enquiry, is because of Vytjie Mentor, our Western Cape Provincial Chairperson, publicly exposing the Guptas for offering her a cabinet position when others would have just taken it.

I can say to you that ActionSA will fight corruption, because we have leaders that didn’t just talk about it, they actually fought it, because Actions speak louder than words.

When ActionSA commits itself to lifestyle audits of senior managers and politicians, and, commits to appointing an NGO to transparently observe city transactions – you can believe me because Actions speak louder than words.

When I commit ActionSA to delivering the rule of law, I do so with a track record.

As Mayor of Joburg I expanded the Metro Police by 1500 additional officers, and shifted their focus from hiding in bushes to issue traffic fines to forcing criminals into hiding by fighting crime.

This was so effective that, in a single year of my tenure as Mayor, more arrests were effected than in the 5 years before this, and, a dedicated narcotics unit was established to wage war against drug dealers.

This is why when ActionSA says it will produce a CCTV network that expands the impact of the Metro Police, when we say we will have municipal courts that prosecute those who disregard our by-laws, or, when we say we will fight illegal immigration – you can believe us.

Because Actions speak louder than words.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and fellow countrymen, we are a party that believes in responsive government. 

As Mayor of Joburg, and as part of our offer wherever we govern, we extended the hours of municipal clinics to provide life saving treatment after hours and over weekends.

And, do you know how we financed this? We took the funds from the international travel budget of the previous Mayor.

When I served as Mayor, electricity was provided to communities that have never turned on a light or boiled a kettle. Houses were built and title deeds provided to people who had only ever lived in a shack, and security guards were given the dignity of proper conditions of service, with a decent salary, along with all the benefits of full-time employment. 

ActionSA is unapologetic that the municipalities we govern must provide the dignity of services to those who have never had them before. For our country to fulfil its destiny, we cannot continue as the most unequal society in the world.

We must ensure that every resident has access to electricity, clean potable water and sanitation.

We must see to it that every RDP recipient has a title deed that can be passed to their children to help them unlock the limitless economic opportunities that lie in possessing legal title to property.

We must ensure that our governments redefine the expectations of customer service, with residents who are treated as customers and city officials who are proud to be public servants.

You can believe us because Actions speak louder than words.

We are a party that is going to grow the economies of our cities and ensure that jobs are being created.

By the cumulative sum of our actions, we will ensure that small business are thriving, because a job improves lives better than government ever can.

As Mayor of Joburg we facilitated increased investment into the City, growing from R4 billion to R17 billion in 3 years.

We established Opportunity Centres in every region, capacitated with private and public sector partnerships to incubate small businesse and help unleash their potential.

Our inner-city rejuvenation project established a blueprint that can be replicated in every South African city.

We took derelict and abandoned buildings and offered them to the private sector. In Johannesburg alone, this produced plans for 25 000 affordable accommodations, 12 000 construction sector jobs and R32 billion in investment.

When I say we will grow the economy and create jobs, you can believe us, because Actions speak louder than words.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to focus ActionSA’s offer and our stance on coalitions today. 

This campaign has been full of political parties talking about outright majorities when it is abundantly clear that coalitions are the future of our politics, whether we like it or not.

For what it’s worth, I myself, have said I would prefer an outright electoral mandate in the City of Joburg and, frankly, every municipality ActionSA is contesting.

That is because I know what I’m talking about.

ActionSA has experience in coalitions.

As Mayor of Joburg, a ran the most complex, 7-way minority coalition government, and yet Joburg was the most effective coalition government.

This was because local government is not about ideology, it is about service delivery. It is about roads, houses, electricity, billing and water, and every party believes in this – at least, theoretically.

We were successful because have the humility to recognise that no party has the monopoly on solutions, that listening to different parties diversifies your approach to the complex challenges faced by our residents, and that, above all else, people want services and not politics.

In the face of parties imagining they will receive majorities, in the face of parties saying they will challenge the ANC while they secretly negotiate for coalitions with a supposedly “reforming” ANC – let me be clear:

ActionSA knows the future is coalitions.

We commit ourselves to only enter coalitions with other political after we engage the residents of municipalities, and they give us such a mandate. We will never take your vote and put it alongside another party that you did not want to vote for.

Without going another step further, and while other parties say one thing and do another, let me be very clear:

ActionSA will NEVER go into coalition with the ANC.

We believe this because, you cannot fix the problem by partnering with the cause of the problem.

How can you live up to a promise to fight corruption while you are in coalition with the party responsible for the corruption?

What madness is that?

The truth is that voters who want an alternative to the ANC can vote for ActionSA knowing that we will never take their vote and give it to the ANC to continue destroying our country.

We are committed to transparent coalition negotiations in which we make it known what the terms of the agreements are, and we make it known how people can hold parties in such coalitions to account.

We commit ourselves to managing coalitions openly, transparently and always in the interests of the residents of each municipality, because we are a party that puts residents first and party politics second.

As I stand before you today, I can tell you that no other political party is willing to make these commitments in coalitions because, to them, parties come first and you come a very distant second.

If coalitions are the future, it is time that residents ask themselves who they would like to lead these coalitions so that your interests are protected.

For your interests to come first in coalitions, ActionSA must lead these arrangements. 

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and fellow countrymen, ActionSA was set up to challenge and remove the ANC from power, with a specific focus on national government in 2024.

We have selected municipalities to contest in these elections to avoid being merely another opposition party, but to show South Africans that we can remove failing governments.

This is why the slogan on our posters reads “Lets Fix South Africa.”

But, we can only start the work to FIX South Africa, when we start to fix our municipalities, and, we can only FIX our municipalities when we go out to vote on Monday. 

The signs are strong,

Tracking polls in Johannesburg place us as the biggest party ahead of the ANC, DA and EFF.

In Tshwane the polls put ActionSA within 3% of being the biggest party in our capital city.

There is only one thing that can hold us back as a country from achieving our destiny, and that is ourselves.

In the last elections, in 2019, 17.6 million people voted but 18.3 million people did not vote.

The time has come for us to take back our power back from political parties that say one thing in public and do another when the cameras are off.

If you are not actively changing something, you are tacitly choosing it. Friends, do not think that by staying away you are punishing politicians, you are rewarding them with another 5 years to continue failing you, to abusing you.

O dumela ba re sotle some more. Magodu are sotlile for 27 years. It’s enough now.

This is why I say to you today, come out to vote on Monday, come in your hundreds, come in your thousands, and come in your millions.

Come with your family, your friends, your colleagues and your neighbours, but whatever you do, come out to vote – because the work to fix South Africa starts on Monday.

The time has come us to liberate ourselves. They have masqueraded as our liberators for far too long.

The time has come for us to be our own liberators and it is now.

On Monday we will finally be our own liberators and begin the work to FIX South Africa. 

Thank you.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 28 October 2021