Staff Reporter.
The leader of ActionSA, Herman Mashaba reiterated his comments that ActionSA will never go into a coalition with the ANC,citing the corruption and badly run municipalities.
Speaking to eNCA on Saturday, Mashaba says a nickname of “key maker” doesn’t fit the bill because the other parties can form governments without them. He said the ANC and the DA can form coalition without the need for ActionSA.
Mashaba revealed that DA approached them on Friday evening but that “nothing come out of the discussion”. He says his top team, about four people include John Moodey, ActionSA’s provincial chairperson in Gauteng, Abel Tau, Vytjie Mentor and Dr Makhosi Khoza. But a full discussion couldn’t be had because this team wasn’t present for the meeting and they wanted to be given more time.
“It was just to go and listen to the DA, but they really didn’t put anything tangible on the table because our team wasn’t ready to listen.”
ActionSA received 9 per cent of the votes in Gauteng, in its first election said they want a deal that can achieve the most service delivery for the voters.
Mashaba said the only concern he has with the DA is their “arrogance” and according to him, during his stint as Joburg mayor he struggled to get the party to respect other people. He says one of his top agendas is to still rejuvenate the inner city and reclaim hijacked buildings.
He acrimoniously parted ways with the DA in 2019 when he quit as Johannesburg mayor two days before former party leader Mmusi Maimane also jumped ship in October of that year.
Meanwhile the DA is also set to approach the African Independent Congress (AIC), Al Jama-ah, Congress of the People (Cope), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and United Democratic Movement (UDM) – all of whom were in coalition with the ANC under the administration that just came to an end.
“The strategy is to isolate ActionSA, go after all the smaller parties and leave Mashaba’s new party with no one to turn to. Given that Action SA has already shut the door on an ANC alliance, they will then be left with not enough numbers and forced to join forces with the DA under the party’s terms, which is the plan after all.”