SEDIBENG. – Having been tipped as one of the closest allies of party leader, Herman Mashaba, it came as a huge surprise when former Midvaal Local Municipality (MLM) Executive Mayor, Bongani Baloyi resigned from ActionSA on Monday.

Resigning from ActionSA on Monday, Baloyi had somehow been demoted to be the party’s National Spokesperson from being ActionSA Gauteng Leader, a position wielding more power and authority. Speaking to the media, Baloyi said that he had proved beyond reasonable doubt that young people can lead.

“So, I can’t then be relegated to because no process to justify nothing, no accusation put to me, nothing at all but just a decision.”

It is said that Baloyi had been calling for ActionSA in Gauteng to obtain more power by being empowered to discipline councilors, take charge of provincial lists and strengthen the constitution of the party, a stance that did not sit well with the party hierarchy.

“ I was intentional to take a posture insofar as national leadership to say to them, devolve more power to the structures. Devolving more power to the structures means embarking on a journey to start democratisation within the party where it’s no longer senate meeting, about Gauteng issues without Gauteng engaging on those issues,” he said.

Baloyi further said that he was called to a meeting with Mashaba and other party leaders where he was told that he was not trusted.

“Mashaba said that there were irreconcilable differences between us and could no longer work with me. He then also said that he had problems with how I have been managing the province. I was baffled at that moment because I could not understand how in one breath, he could say that there was a trust deficit and in the other say we should work in such close proximity,” Baloyi said.

Meanwhile, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said that he is not a “dictator” following criticism that he’s dismissed vocal party leaders with a different leadership style.

“Bongani and (ActionSA National Chairperson) Michael Beaumont went to a discussion with the ANC. Our senate decided to do a short survey to ask if people wanted ActionSA to partner with the ANC. The results came back and people said they did not want that partnership. Bongani took this personally. He felt I was blackmailing the party with the comments I made. Things between Bongani and I soured overnight,” Mashaba was quoted saying by Times Live.

Baloyi became the youngest mayor in the country when he took the mayoral seat at the MLM in 2013. He was only 26 years old at the time, and he consequently became the youngest mayor in South Africa, under the Democratic Alliance (DA).

He then resigned from the DA in December 2021 and joined ActionSA in January 2021 where he was tipped for the mayoral seat of the troubled Tshwane Municipality and eventually becoming the premier candidate for Gauteng, before resigning from ActionSA on Monday.