ActionSA's Mashaba realistic on chances of getting an outright majority in elections
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said South Africa cannot be fixed from the opposition benches, and while they are unlikely to win majority in upcoming polls, they've joined the Multiparty Charter in hopes for change in numbers.
FILE: ActionSA president Herman Mashaba at the party's inaugural policy conference at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on 12 September 2023. Picture: X/HermanMashaba
JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA said it’s fully aware of the minimal likelihood it has of winning an outright majority in the general elections.
The party will contest its first provincial and national elections since its formation in August 2020.
On Tuesday, the party announced three of its candidates who will stand for premier in the Eastern Cape, Free State, and Mpumalanga.
They are former Democratic Alliance (DA) Eastern Cape provincial chairperson, Athol Trollip, former DA shadow minister, Patricia Kopane, and former African National Congress (ANC) Women's League Mpumalanga chairperson Thoko Mashiane, respectively.
READ: ActionSA's premier candidates for EC, FS & Mpumalanga say they want to revive provinces
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said he did not give up 40 years in business for politics only to be a backbencher in Parliament.
Mashaba said South Africa cannot be fixed from the opposition side.
“I want South Africans to give us outright majority but is it realistic? One has to be honest. It is for that reason ActionSA has committed to the Multi-Party Charter in the event we don't get outright majority."
Mashaba said the party would present its election manifesto in March, adding that the manifesto would not contain pie-in-the-sky ideas but practical solutions to get the country working again.