Party ready to lead with action
MBOMBELA - The Mpumalanga ANC will face some stiff competition in the 2024 general elections.
So said the ActionSA party leader, Herman Mashaba, who officially unveiled his party’s provincial leader, the former ANC stalwart, Thoko Mashiane, as the Mpumalanga ActionSA chairperson on Monday.
Mashiane’s leadership roles during her tenure in the ANC included positions on the Mpumalanga Housing Board, the chairperson of the Mpumalanga ANC Women’s League and representing the province on the national executive committee.
Mashaba did not mince his words when he said ActionSA wants to teach the electorate about the power of democracy. He said fixing South Africa was the responsibility of all people. He said the ANC had not delivered on its promise of a better life for all, explaining that he voted for the ANC in 1994 with the real hope that his children and grandchildren would find dignity in being South African.
“I was born and raised in an evil system. HF Verwoerd, known as the architect of apartheid, was appointed as prime minister in 1958, the year before my birth.
“I am not a young man; I am doing a job that I hate. The work is brutal. We are away from our families. But it is one of the most rewarding jobs. We are ‘actioners’ and it is going to require all of us to fix the country. More than 20 million eligible voters have abstained from voting. We need to get them back,” said Mashaba.
“Our public schools are dysfunctional, that is why our young voters don’t understand the power of their votes.”
He said it is the party’s vision to emerge as the second largest one in the country.
“It may be a bold statement, but I am not in the business to be the opposition. We are here to fix the country. The only way you can change the lives of the people is to govern,” stressed Mashaba.
At the official launch, Mashiane said she supports Mashaba’s view that the term “comrade” should not be used to refer to ActionSA party members. “Comrades are thugs and crooks. If you start being a comrade, you become friends and no longer do what you need to do.”
Mashiane, who hails from Barberton, said Mpumalanga is a rich province with many agricultural opportunities. She spoke out about failed land claim farms, saying communities were given land, but not the support they needed to succeed. “ActionSA needs to fix this,” she said.
Other industries in the province that need attention are mining and tourism, she said, adding that she was committed to “action” change. ActionSA announced that it intends to build leadership in all nine provinces to activate structures ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections.
‘We are ‘actioners’. It’s going to require all of us to fix SA. More than 20 million eligible voters have abstained from voting. We need them back’