New ActionSA member and former DA stalwart Athol Trollip says the new kid on the political block is happy to work alongside the DA, but wants the ANC out of power.

Launched in August 2020 by former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, ActionSA announced on February 9 that Trollip had joined its ranks.

WATCH: New ActionSA member Athol Trollip tells Izak du Plessis why the party will not be gunning for his former party, the DA.

Trollip admits that the policies of the DA and ActionSA do not differ much, but he believes ActionSA comes with much less baggage.

He says the party wants to replace the ANC, not the DA. “We believe the ANC is the problem in the country, so we are not going for the DA, but for government. Let me be very clear about that. We want to lead a coalition or be in government.”

Political veteran

For more than 30 years, Trollip was a pillar within the DA. He served as chair of the federal council and became mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality when the DA took control of the city in a very flimsy coalition after the municipal elections in 2016.

But in October 2019, shortly after Helen Zille became the DA’s federal council chair and Mmusi Maimane stepped down as DA leader, Trollip announced that he too was quitting the party’s leadership. In the same week, former mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba also announced his resignation from the party.

For two years, Trollip enjoyed a quiet family life outside of active politics. He says while he did not intend to return to politics, ‘some of my friends and family believed that I would not be out of politics for long’.

Why ActionSA?

According to Trollip, the political landscape has become a bit stale in South Africa. He says for a long time, voters have distrusted politicians and political parties.

“So when Herman Mashaba contacted me and asked me to come and join him in ActionSA to build an alternative to the current establishment, I said yes,” says Trollip.

“Herman brings a fresh offer; the new dynamic of a businessman who just wants to get the job done. I like his pragmatism and that is what drew me to him.”

Coalitions

Trollip is willing to work with the DA in possible coalition governments.

“I know the DA very well – for more than 30 years. I will thus be able to work with them in coalitions. It is working with parties who are further apart [in ideology], that makes coalitions difficult to work in.”

According to him, the real art of coalition government is to write the rules of engagement down in the blood of all the parties involved. If any of them break the rules, they must understand that there are consequences, and they will be removed from the coalition, he says.

“Working with the DA, no problem; working with the EFF, big problem. If we ever do work with the EFF, they had better be in the coalition and not just in a co-operation agreement,” says Trollip.