South African entrepreneur, politician Herman Mashaba is photographed in his home in Sandton, 8 September 2020. Mashaba recently launched his new political party ACTIONSA, a party he founded in August 202. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
Former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba is now officially the president of a registered political party. And he is coming for the highest office in the land.
“I am proud to announce that, today, ActionSA has registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), following the launch of the party on 29 August 2020,” he announced in a statement today.
According to Mashaba, ActionSA started the registration process immediately after its launch, which included obtaining the signatures of 500 registered voters who support the establishment of the new party.
Mashaba made a dramatic exodus from the Democratic Alliance (DA) last year together with its former leader, Mmusi Maimane. The former spent three years as mayor of Johannesburg before he resigned, citing racism and other disputes in the party which he said he could no longer stand for. The two friends have since formed their own, separate political movements.
“I am pleased to say that our teams on the ground obtained the signatures of well over 1 000 registered voters within just a matter of hours. Our teams reported that they were inundated by the number of people who wanted to sign this important deed of foundation,” Mashaba boasts.
Action SA is now registered as a political party at national level, across all nine provinces with the ultimate goal of entering the race for national power in the 2024 general elections. The party make its race debut next year in the local government elections.
“Our registration is yet another milestone in this project to deliver a real alternative to the people of South Africa, who have been failed by their political system, and have expressed their wishes for ActionSA to be the party to unite our country around a vision for a prosperous future, ” said Mashaba.
“I believe it is highly appropriate that we register this party the day after President Ramaphosa announced the move to level 1 lockdown regulations, because we will dedicate ActionSA to being the party of economic solutions that will create jobs and prosperity for all South Africans.”
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