Leader of ActionSA, Herman Mashaba, has confirmed that the party is no longer a member of the multiparty coalition in the Tshwane metropolitan municipality.
The senate, ActionSA’s highest decision-making body, made a decision on this.
“The senate sat for the whole day yesterday and made a very decisive decision, and that decision is that we should cut ties with the coalition in Tshwane,” said Mashaba.
This follows protracted debates spanning several weeks between ActionSA and the DA, with the latter seeking to maintain the multiparty coalition on the grounds that it has enhanced service delivery in the Tshwane region.
Currently, ActionSA is aiming to remove DA mayor Cilliers Brink via a motion of no confidence presented by the ANC, which is anticipated to collaborate with ActionSA in the proposed Tshwane government.
Mashaba stated that the general public’s interest drove their decision. He emphasised that the party would not make any significant decisions out of spite or to stroke egos.
“We’re also quite aware of the confusion caused by ongoing events in Tshwane, with some people thinking that ActionSA plans to blindly go into a coalition in support of the ANC, which it has always sworn to never support,” he said.
The decision was not taken lightly
“We will never support nor allow ActionSA to be used to shield corruption and other forms of abuse, irrespective of whom we get into a coalition with.
“The decision to consider an alternative municipal coalition government for Tshwane —dictated by both the multiparty post-electoral reality in South Africa and the many instances of mismanagement we have witnessed in Tshwane — has not been taken lightly, without deep introspection and deliberation by ActionSA’s senate.”
He said the party is willing to defend the decision as it believes that it can propose alternatives to current abuses of trust, which he promises to detail once ready.
Mashaba added that ActionSA continues to talk to parties about potential coalitions.
“Everyone should rest assured that should we fail to secure an alternative coalition government we can confidently be part of, ActionSA will happily rejoin the opposition benches in Tshwane.”
