ActionSA voters warn Mashaba against an ANC coalition as his 2021 promises clash with his feud with Zille and coalition talks.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba once said the ANC would have to wait centuries before he would consider a coalition with it. Five years later, his party is negotiating with its former enemy while Mashaba demands that Helen Zille be removed from the Johannesburg mayoral race before he will entertain a deal with the DA.
But despite ActionSA denying that coalition negotiations have nothing to do with the politics of personality or ego, voters may have noticed.
Amongst ActionSA supporters on social media, there is dissatisfaction at the prospect of their votes helping to return the ANC to power. Comments on the party’s Facebook page and responses to Mashaba on X following the 4 November elections suggest considerable opposition to an ANC partnership among people identifying themselves as ActionSA voters.
Get your results on
our Election Hub
Live results
A social media review reportedly examined 1 170 Facebook comments and approximately 590 replies on X. Of these, around 90 Facebook comments opposed an ANC agreement, compared with 13 supporting or accepting one. On X, about 45 self-described ActionSA voters opposed an ANC partnership, while 15 supported it outright. The findings are not representative polling results, but offer a temperature check on public reaction.
Opposition to ANC-EFF marriage on social media
Facebook commenter Wesley Magic Nyalungu appealed to Mashaba not to vote for the ANC and to set his differences with Zille aside. Another supporter warned that an ANC coalition would cost ActionSA his support, while Muzi Khumalo said he would reconsider voting for the party in 2029 if it joined forces with the ANC. Another asked whether it was possible to revoke a vote already cast for Mashaba’s party.
A survey reported by the media before the elections found that 43.1% of surveyed ActionSA supporters in Johannesburg preferred a coalition with the DA, while 11.7% were firmly opposed.
Mashaba’s demands also present an awkward comparison. Were the DA to insist that ActionSA remove Nasiphi Moya as Tshwane mayor before entering a coalition, it would be imposing much the same condition that Mashaba has placed on Zille in Johannesburg.
Mashaba’s position on the ANC may present a post-election hangover for supporters who voted ActionSA to get rid of it.
In November 2021, when the party contested its first municipal elections, and talk of an ANC cosy-up surfaced, Mashaba was unequivocal. “It’s completely impossible. I said, ‘wait for my call’. I am telling you, that call will not come in 300 years,” he said.
He was equally dismissive of an EFF proposal that depended on ANC support at the time. “We don’t want to be associated with the ANC,” Mashaba said at the time. He also said ActionSA’s mission was to remove the ANC from government and limit its access to public money.
ANC didn’t wait 300 years for ActionSA affection
Five years later, ActionSA has held what national chairperson Michael Beaumont described as productive and mutually respectful discussions with the ANC. The party has also engaged the EFF.
Supporters in favour of cooperation with the ANC and EFF cited Tshwane, where Moya has governed with their support, as evidence that such an arrangement can work. One supporter said continued cooperation was acceptable provided ActionSA retained the mayoralty. Others said service delivery mattered more than the political identity of coalition partners.
Mashaba has defended the Tshwane arrangement previously and cited the DA’s participation in the national government of unity with the ANC to justify his party’s willingness to negotiate before the three hundred years are up.
ActionSA Gauteng chairperson Funzi Ngobeni said the party was prepared to negotiate with anyone, provided agreements prioritised service delivery, accountability and fighting corruption. And, it seems, provided your surname is not Zille.
