After opting to work with ANC in Joburg, ActionSA wants R200 electricity surcharge removed
The party announced at a media briefing on Monday morning that it had decided to work with the ANC on a conditional basis, provided that the surcharge was revoked.
ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, at a media briefing on 22 July 2024. Picture: @Action4SA/X
JOHANNESBURG - With ActionSA now joining hands with the African National Congress (ANC) in Joburg, the party wants the metro to repeal its contentious R200 surcharge on prepaid electricity.
The party announced at a media briefing on Monday morning that it had decided to work with the ANC on a conditional basis, provided that the surcharge was revoked.
As of this month, households on prepaid electricity in Johannesburg are set to pay an additional fixed fee of R200 to keep their lights on.
ActionSA, which has been critical of the ANC since its establishment in 2020, has honoured the ANC's invitation to participate in the city’s administration.
However, the party has set out various conditions, some of which involve the ANC-led government reversing its R200 electricity surcharge and the removal of Al Jama-ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda from the mayoral office.
ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said that the party would use the opportunity to stabilise service delivery in Johannesburg.
"We cannot sit back as ActionSA and allow a metro like Johannesburg to decline and decay the way it has and sit on our hands in Johannesburg by clinging to a principle that we will not work with other political parties. Change takes place in the political environment, and if we aren’t going to be dinosaurs, we too have to change and adapt to the changes happening in the political environment."
Despite its newly established conditional relationship with the ANC, ActionSA will remain an opposition party in the metro.