ActionSA-DA pact mooted in attempt to keep ANC out of power in Tshwane and Joburg

ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) could soon work together as they inch to a breakthrough agreement to back each other to take over the City of Joburg and Tshwane with the backing of smaller political parties.

In terms of the arrangement, former Joburg mayor and leader of ActionSA Herman Mashaba would be back at his old seat, while Tshwane’s Randall Williams of the DA would be wearing the mayoral chain once more in Tshwane, in what some described as “logical coalition”.

Although DA leader John Steenhuisen on Thursday denied there was a deal with ActionSA, calling it “fake”, it was in line with the DA’s own proposal last week that it favoured Mashaba as Joburg mayor as part of a deal for ActionSA to back the DA in Tshwane.

ALSO READ: ActionSA used us for votes, say disgruntled members

Mashaba said that while there was no deal, parties meet today to see if there is common ground. He said that he had no expectations of becoming mayor of Joburg and also noted that there have been no conversations about who was going to become mayor in any of the cities where coalitions could take over.

However, he added, that he would “not work with the ANC or any criminals”.

Mashaba was loved by many white suburban voters who migrated from the DA to his ActionSA and the township residents who seemingly abandoned the ANC for the new party at the recent local government elections.

Some DA senior members conceded that the party’s poor performance among black voters was due to the departure of former leader Mmusi Maimane.

Any alliance between the ActionSA and the DA would help the DA revive its dwindling fortunes among white voters, many of whom may have voted for Mashaba.

ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said the party had engaged the DA to suggest it was willing to support the DA in Tshwane to lead a new administration in which ActionSA would occupy some posts as members of mayoral committee (MMCs).

“Again, we proposed to the DA that Herman Mashaba be the mayor of Joburg and the DA will get some MMC positions in the city council,” Beaumont said.

This meant, if an agreement is reached, the two parties would vote for each other in the two metros, assisted by other opposition parties such as the African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front Plus, Congress of the People and United Democratic Movement.

With the new pact, the Patriotic Alliance was expected to side with the ANC, while the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) could fall either way after its recent somersaulting to work with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.

However, there had been no specific positions or the number of the posts to be exchanged for both metros.

Mashaba said there would be a press conference after the meeting about the way forward. Beaumont envisaged that Ekurhuleni would be run by an ANC-led coalition as it seemed the metro was “out of bounds from us”.

The ANC was expected to cooperate with its previous administration coalition partners to run the city and was likely to get further support from its newly found ally, the IFP, to form a government in Ekurhuleni.

ALSO READ: DA’s Steenhuisen slams PA for pulling out of ‘challenging’ coalition talks

But Beaumont vowed they would collaborate as the opposition to keep the ANC in check and ensure service delivery happened.

A proposed DA-ActionSA coalition was designed, said Beaumont, to keep the ANC out of the Joburg and Tshwane metros, making them a “buffer zone”, where the focus would be on service delivery and clean governance.

It is not clear where the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) would feature in the new coalitions but this week party leader Julius Malema said the EFF would not vote with or for the ANC and also indicated his willingness to back Mashaba.

– news@citizen.co.za