ActionSA at the crossroads — real governance or just another ego-driven party?

Résumé détaillé

The strong performance by ActionSA was the surprise of this election. But decisions made in the next fortnight will determine whether it has a long and powerful role to play in…

The strong performance by ActionSA was the surprise of this election. But decisions made in the next fortnight will determine whether it has a long and powerful role to play in our politics, or becomes just another two-term, one-leader party.

ActionSA’s success in the 4 November local government elections is about more than just the short-term balance of power and the influence it might have in future coalitions.

It is also about the longer-term quest to build a multiracial and multi-class political coalition. ActionSA is the first post-apartheid party to explicitly champion such an alliance.

While its political identity might be changing, it is still the most successful formation of its kind. Its future is about the possible success of more racially-inclusive politics (despite the fact it is right-wing).

At the same time, as coalition negotiations unfold over the next fortnight, it is worth remembering that nothing is ever quite as it seems.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba’s statement at the weekend that he will not allow Helen Zille or Cilliers Brink to become the mayors in Joburg or Tshwane may hold – or it could just be posturing, to ensure that when he does actually support them in those councils, he has extracted the maximum possible price from the DA.

There’s even the possibility that Zille never planned to be Joburg mayor in the first place – that her candidacy was merely leverage to extract maximum concessions from ActionSA as the “price” for convincing her to step aside. (This is, admittedly, unlikely; nevertheless, it’s a theory worth floating.)

Julius Malema’s threat to sue Zille for claiming that Mashaba gave Joburg tenders to Malema’s allies while Mashaba was the Joburg mayor may even be just an attempt to muddy the waters between the DA and ActionSA.

Certainly, Malema has not threatened the authors of the book Malema: Money. Power. Patronage (in stock here) for providing evidence of far worse behaviour.

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