No betrayal allowed: Mashaba’s concern over Multi-Party Charter members back-tracking

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has said he is concerned with some back-tracking tendencies from some members of the Multi-Party Charter.

Mashaba warns parties of betraying the charter

Mashaba said he had noted statements that had been made in public by members of the charter concerning possible working relations with the ANC after the May 29 elections.

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He also said he was concerned with some of the leaders of the party declining an invitation to do life style audits.

Mashaba had volunteered to sponsor the audits which would be carried out by renowned Private Investigator Paul O’Sullivan.

“In the last week or so the DA and the IFP are already talking about forming a government of national unity with the ANC and we have written to them to clarify this matter. It looks like they are now turning back to say they will never go into a coalition with the ANC,’” Mashaba said.

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According to Mashaba ActionSA was clear on its position to not associate itself with the ANC.

He said he was also disappointed that both the DA and the IFP had refused to take part in the lifestyle audits he had sponsored since there was an agreement that all signatories to the charter standing for public office should take lifestyle audits. 

“I do not understand why the DA is rejecting this because this is part of the Multi-Party Charter agreement,” he said.

Mashaba said he had also invited president Cyril Ramaphosa and the EFF’s president Julius Malema to do free lifestyle audits. He said he had not invited the leadership of the MK Party for an audit because he was not sure if former president Jacob Zuma was the official leader of the party or not.

“The reason why I did not invite the MK is because I did not know if the leader of the MK is going to be Zuma or someone else,” he said.

The multi-party charter was meant to oppose the ANC and cut its majority rule after the general elections.

The charter was also meant to challenge a possible ANC-EFF coalition, which had been described as a Doom’s Day coalition by the DA.

Despite talks of a possible coalition arrangement after the general elections ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said the ANC was focusing on winning the elections with an outright majority,

Political analyst Piet Croucamp said it would not make sense for members of the Multi-Party Charter to speak about possible coalition arrangements with the ANC when the charter was formed to counter the ANC.

He said talks about being in possible coalition with the ANC after the election would only confuse voters,

“They have to have a united front and a single set of principles in which people can vote for them. You cannot in the run up to the election form a multiparty coalition arrangement and then say we might split apart after that,” Croucamp said.