ActionSA leaves Multi-Party Charter, will not work with the ANC
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has announced that his party has officially left the Multi-Party Charter (MPC).
The MPC, formed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) last year, was a coalition strategy ahead of the elections.
It included various opposition parties like the Freedom Front Plus (FFPlus), ActionSA, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the United Independent Movement (UIM), the Spectrum National Party, the Independent South African National Civic Organisation, the Ekhethu People’s Party, and the United Christian Democratic Party.
Members of the charter signed a pre-election agreement to collaborate after the elections.
However, Mashaba stated that ActionSA was taken aback when MPC-associated political parties began coalition negotiations with the ANC.
"ActionSA’s senate has deliberated on our relationship with other political parties going forward.
This process has resolved that ActionSA will leave the Multi-Party Charter due to the serious breach by those parties who publicly signed and campaigned under an agreement that expressly ruled out working relationships with the ANC," Mashaba said.
Last week, IFP Leader Velenkosini Hlabisa announced that the MPC was dissolved after failing to form a government together. Hlabisa noted that while the parties achieved their first goal of bringing the ANC below 50%, they could not form a government together.
"We had our meeting where we acknowledged that as the MPC, we achieved our first goal to bring down the ruling party below 50%.
Unfortunately, we did not achieve our second goal to form an alternative government as the MPC.
We therefore allowed each political party to go back to its structures and engage about the way forward," Hlabisa said.
He added that the IFP National Executive Committee (NEC) has established a negotiating team to engage various political parties with shared values and principles.
ALSO READ:
Meanwhile, Mashaba also announced that ActionSA would not participate in any coalition involving the ANC.
"It was similarly resolved that ActionSA will continue to honor its commitment to be an alternative to the ANC. As such, ActionSA will not entertain any working relationship with the ANC at any level of government," Mashaba said.
Mashaba explained that early last year, ActionSA conducted an online public participation process with members, structures, and ordinary South Africans.
The feedback urged them to participate in the MPC and reaffirmed their commitment to being an alternative to the ANC.
Consequently, ActionSA will remain in the City of Tshwane government in its current configuration but is prepared to vacate if the ANC returns to power.
"ActionSA will operate as a constructive opposition in the National Assembly and the three legislatures where we are represented.
If sound and ethical proposals are placed before our representatives that serve the South African people, we will support those proposals unreservedly.
Similarly, when accountability is required, ActionSA will be the hardest when it comes to holding a government to account," Mashaba said.
Mashaba and his national chairperson Michael Beaumont have opted not to become Members of Parliament (MPs) in the seventh administration. Instead, they will focus on preparing for the 2026 local government elections.
"It is important to stress that ActionSA has only begun its process of positioning itself ahead of the local government election in 2026.
Notwithstanding the current focus on national and provincial politics, the ActionSA senate has oriented itself around the fact that most South Africans suffer greatly due to municipal failures that leave them without water, unreliable electricity, and submerged in sewage," Mashaba added.
