Herman Mashaba’s party may face a harsh reality check as smaller parties unite under the new Unite for Change coalition.
We wonder when Herman Mashaba’s delusions of grandeur – or delusions of adequacy – are going to catch up with him.
A good bet would be that the upcoming local government elections will see his ActionSA party getting a nasty wake-up call.
Many of the people – like middle-class suburban whites – who voted for him in the last national election will have been looking on in open-mouthed wonder as he tries to out-EFF the EFF in his populist playing of the race card.
That may be enough to convince some voters, but you’d still have to think Mashaba should not have been quite so arrogant in dismissing overtures from the smaller parties, which have just formed the Unite for Change grouping.
The group was set up by Mmusi Maimane of Build One South Africa (Bosa), Songezo Zibi of Rise Mzansi, and Patricia de Lille of the Good party.
ALSO READ: Why Mashaba snubbed Maimane, De Lille and Zibi
Although they will be united, they say they will still maintain their party identity.
Mashaba, ever arrogant, remarked: “These are people that I like and admire but, unfortunately for us as ActionSA, it does not make sense because we are not a minority party.
“How can anyone think ActionSA is a small party? We are the third-biggest party in Gauteng. How can you disregard that, and that is what they did not want to recognise.”
It’s probably just as well Mashaba thinks he can go it alone against the ANC and the DA, especially in Gauteng, where they are the two strongest parties… because he would want to dictate the course of Unite for Change.
Unite for Change does, it must be admitted, represent only a minority of voters, but the principles they stand for – unity, accountability and a shared vision for a just South Africa – could be what politically battered South Africans will be looking for next year.
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