‘Irreconcilable differences’: ActionSA confirms talks over Bongani Baloyi’s political future

It appears ActionSA Gauteng provincial leader, Bongani Baloyi, could soon be quitting the party, just a year since he joined the organisation led by Herman Mashaba.

This follows media reports on Sunday that Mashaba and Baloyi are butting heads over several issues related to the running of the party’s Gauteng structures, with ActionSA having reportedly asked Baloyi to surrender his position.

Mashaba meets with Baloyi

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont confirmed on Sunday that a meeting did take place last Tuesday between Mashaba and Baloyi.

ALSO READ: Bongani Baloyi ‘will regret his move’ to join ActionSA, says Zille

He said the meeting discussed a proposal of a change of role for Baloyi, “arising from irreconcilable differences” on the running of the Gauteng provincial structures.

“Baloyi had asked for time prior to a meeting this coming week to consider the matter and we are disappointed that it has appeared in the media prior to this meeting,” Beaumont said in a terse statement.

“ActionSA will comment on the matter further in due course once discussions have concluded.”

In January last year, Baloyi joined ActionSA after terminating his membership as a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in December 2021.

RELATED: Former DA member Bongani Baloyi joins ActionSA

Baloyi was undoubtedly one of the rising stars in the DA after he became the country’s youngest mayor at the age of 26 in 2013, leading Midvaal Local Municipality in Gauteng. Baloyi was a member of the DA for 14 years.

Realignment of SA politics

When he joined ActionSA, Baloyi said he was not joining the party out of anger and disappointment, but because he believed the party presented a great opportunity for the realignment of South African politics.

He said he was “excited and energised” to be a member of ActionSA.

“I joined ActionSA knowing very well of the work that lies ahead for all of us. This is a very significant moment in our country.

“I believe this is the actual realignment of our politics in the country, where South Africans of all capabilities and diversity need to join hands and work together because we’ve got one enemy, and that enemy is the ANC,” Baloyi said at the time.

‘I think he will regret his move’

DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille predicted last year that Baloyi “will regret” his decision to join ActionSA.

This after Baloyi revealed in an interview with the Sunday Times his decision to terminate his DA membership was after the party became “toxic” when Zille was elected federal council chair in 2019.

Taking to Twitter on 30 January 2022, Zille said she saw the former Midvaal mayor in Johannesburg in December 2021, at his request, “to discuss his plans for his future DA career trajectory”.

She said the meeting was “amicable and pleasant”, suggesting that Baloyi never mentioned anything to her about the DA being “toxic”.

“I have never had one unpleasant interaction with Bongani. Quite the contrary. My prediction? I think he will regret his move,” Zille tweeted at the time.

“A black person always carries an albatross in the DA. When people see you then they think ‘Ja, but Helen Zille’, ‘We hear you, but Helen Zille said … what did you say?’, ‘Tony Leon said … what did you say?’" Bongani Baloyi said.https://t.co/wDOcDgessN

— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) January 30, 2022

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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