Herman Mashaba’s backtracking on ANC a death wish for ActionSA

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba is not going to apologise for backtracking and getting into bed with the ANC, despite having vowed he would never do so and although many who voted for him believe they have been sold out.

Political experts say these voters may yet punish ActionSA for this “betrayal”.

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ActionSA sides with ANC

Mashaba said: “No-one can doubt how critical I was of the ANC and as a businessman, I was a big supporter of the ANC.

“But when they started doing the wrong things, I criticised them and left my business and joined the DA to help unseat the ANC.

“But the DA are doing exactly the same things. Now people don’t want me to raise the issue. Wrong is wrong. It doesn’t matter who it is,” he said.

He added: “We are backtracking because we went with people who are dishonest and ActionSA will never be associated with dishonest people.

“If it means we must backtrack I am a proud backtracker and I am not going to apologise to anyone,” he said.

ActionSA has sided with the ANC in Johannesburg and Tshwane after apparently falling out badly with the DA.

Backtracking could lead to ANC-EFF resurgence

Political analyst Dr René Oosthuizen said ActionSA’s attitude could have far-reaching implications for the city.

Oosthuizen said the possible loss of ActionSA’s support will weaken the majority of the coalition government and may lead to a revival of ANC-EFF dominance in the Tshwane council.

North-West University political lecturer Dominic Maphaka said the shift in Mashaba’s political posture could be interpreted as an attempt to reclaim his genuine principles.

“Mashaba is known to be a de facto supporter of race-based policies. While expressing a different view towards the policies, he supported the policies during his tenure as Joburg mayor.

“Currently, his Inclusive Economic Empowerment Act is confined to the same population group targeted by race-based policies, despite his purported disapproval of such policies,” he said.

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ActionSA saw opportunity in ANC

Independent political analyst Sandile Swana said the DA had been astute in that its leadership understood the significance of working with the ANC, which Swana described as the “big piece on the chessboard” of the then envisaged GNU.

The DA embarked on a game plan that was devised by big business, which wanted the DA and the “tame ANC” of President Cyril Ramaphosa to cooperate to form a post-election coalition. Mashaba had envisaged a partnership of the opposition against the ANC, but the DA regarded the ANC as a potential partner.

Mashaba failed to read the DA game plan that the moonshot pack/multiparty charter was a stepping stone towards an DA-ANC partnership.

Political analyst Khanya Vilakazi said it was expected for political leaders to forsake one party today and propose marriage the next.

“We will see these old coalitions breaking up and new coalitions forming,” he said.

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Voters will not take well to Mashaba’s antics

Political analyst Daniel Silke said ActionSA voters would not take well to the party’s about turn on doing deals with the ANC.

“To reverse their promise, and it was very specific and a very big part of Mashaba’s campaign, will undermine ActionSA’s ability to make headway.

“The party already had a decline in its overall standing since the local government elections in 2021 and performed particularly poorly at a national level.

“It is also affected by the fact that Mashaba didn’t take up his position in parliament. In a sense, he asked voters to vote for him on the basis that he would go to parliament and on the basis that there would be no deal with the ANC,” he said.

But, Silke said, ActionSA failed to fulfil both election promises.

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