ActionSA councillor and former deputy mayor Nasiphi Moya has been elected as the new mayor of Tshwane through a secret ballot. (Photo by Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Action SA supporters in the Western Cape have expressed reservations about its pre-election coalition agreement with the Democratic Alliance (DA), the party’s provincial chairperson Michelle Wasserman said.
She was speaking at the sidelines of Action SA’s first conference, which is being held in Boksburg east of Johannesburg on Tuesday. About 640 delegates have congregated to thrash out policy direction, which will feed into the party’s manifesto for next year’s general elections.
“Some people are nervous about us going into bed with the DA. They don’t want to vote for the DA so they are hesitant. They are saying to us, ‘if you are going to this multi-party [coalition] and this is who is going to be the deputy president, are you not saying that you are together with the DA?’, that is the important differentiation,” she said.
“From being in government with the DA, I think what is essential in a coalition is where you have a governing party, you have people in executive positions and you have backbenchers and they don’t have access to information that the governing parties have. You can’t hold someone to account when you don’t know what has happened.
“That to me is the exciting part about a coalition is that you are in a position where you both have the information and you can therefore hold your coalition partners to account and you are watching each other and you can have better government.”
The Multiparty Charter initiative agreed on last month involves the leaders of the DA, Inkatha Freedom Party, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, the United Independent Movement, the Spectrum National Party and Isanco, a breakaway from the South African National Civic Organisation.
In terms of the agreement, the details of which were outlined during its August convention, the leader of the coalition partner that secures the largest number of votes next year will become the leader of government in a coalition cabinet.
As things stand, this would guarantee DA leader John Steenhuisen, the leader of the largest opposition party, the post of deputy president should they make it over the line in the next elections.
The issue of who becomes president would be resolved through a vote in parliament because it is MPs, and not voters, who elect South Africa’s head of state.
Action SA is expecting to make significant strides in the Western Cape, a province which has been the traditional base of the DA.
Wasserman has set an ambitious goal for the party in the province; despite not having any evidence to back the party’s prospects, she said the goal is to gain 10% of the vote.
Should she succeed, this could make Action SA the third biggest party in the province behind the DA and the ANC. The Economic Freedom Fighters currently holds that position, having received 2.11% in the 2019 elections.
“It’s so hard to tell because we are not in by-elections, so what our decision has been is that we want to build membership and support,” Wasserman said. “I don’t want to be in a position where we take all our resources in fighting by-elections in one ward. It’s very difficult to judge where we are. Our goal is 10% of the vote and I think we are going to possibly see it.”
She said Action SA’s campaign would not focus on taking away votes from the DA but rather from the ANC.
“As far as I’m concerned, people who want to vote for the DA and are happy and have that experience can carry on voting for the DA. We are not trying to take those voters but we are definitely trying to take away votes from the ANC because we want to change this government in 2024,” she said.
She added that Action SA has made it clear in the Western Cape that it is not an extension of the DA.
“We are not DA light … I’ve said to the senate in the party, I’m never going to back down from pointing out service delivery failures. Whether it comes from the ANC or whether it comes from the DA. If you are governing you are governing and you have got responsibilities,” Wasserman said.