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ActionSA rejects EFF coalition proposal due to ANC involvement
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says 'the primary issue related to the proposal being dependent on ANC support'.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba addressing media at the IEC ROC in Pretoria on 3 November 2021. Picture: Jacques Nelles
ActionSA on Saturday said it had rejected “a proposal” from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to form coalitions in hung municipal councils.
In a statement, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said his party’s senate – ActionSA’s highest decision-making body – met on Friday evening and “resolved to close the door on a proposal presented by the EFF”.
However, Mashaba did not give details on which proposal he was referring to exactly that the Red Berets had made to them.
The statement read: “I have personally written to the EFF and communicated our position. It was a letter that respectfully expressed our appreciation for their engagements and our reservations regarding their proposal.
“In the event of ActionSA’s involvement in a coalition government, our response also committed ActionSA to collaborate with any party with regard to the service delivery priorities of their constituencies in relation to the development of budgets.”
Mashaba said the senate discussed a range of issues and the EFF’s proposal.
He stated “the primary issue related to the proposal being dependent on ANC support”.
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ActionSA has always made it clear that it would not enter into coalition arrangements that involved the ANC.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Mashaba said the EFF wanted to bring the ANC in power through the backdoor in some of the six municipalities ActionSA contested.
“The proposal was given to us by the EFF, when we looked at it, unfortunately, it brings the ANC through the backdoor and we felt really uncomfortable.
“We had to put it to the senate last night and the senate unanimously said no deal because we don’t want to be associated with the ANC,” Mashaba said.
The party’s national spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni declined to comment to The Citizen on whether the EFF had made a specific proposal to work with the ANC, and in which hung municipal councils.
The EFF last week released a set of coalition demands, which included land, the establishment of a state bank and the removal of Die Stem from the national anthem, among other demands.
Ngobeni said she would not speak on behalf of the EFF, but ActionSA was clear about its stance against working with the ANC.
“Anything that involves the ANC on the table is not something that we can entertain,” she said.
“We don’t know what the EFF is concluding in terms of their own coalitions, we just can’t get involved in anything that involves the ANC. We stated that before we went to the polls and throughout our campaign.”
Ngobeni said she could not confirm nor deny whether the decision by the senate meant they would never work with the EFF in all the 66 hung councils throughout the country.
“I can’t confirm that at the moment because the discussions are still happening.
“Things are still happening and we have until tomorrow [Sunday] to put forth a final decision on coalitions. So, I can’t confirm or deny that,” she said.
The Citizen reached out to the EFF’s national spokesperson on elections, Leigh Ann Mathys, but her phone went unanswered.
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