What do voters think?

I refer to Business Day’s report on ActionSA pulling out of its coalition with the DA in the Ekurhuleni metro, and deciding to sit on the opposition benches in the company of the ANC and EFF (“ActionSA pulls out of Ekurhuleni’s DA-led coalition,” November 14).

I wonder what rank-and-file ActionSA supporters think of this? The decision must have come as a shock to them. It surely has no mandate to do this. According to party chair Michael Beaumont, it recently polled its members to ascertain which political parties were preferred as coalition partners. The option of withdrawing from the coalition was not on the table. This decision was taken from the top down.

It must be borne in mind that more than two years after its founding, ActionSA is not a party with democratically elected leaders but the personal fiefdom of Herman Mashaba, who calls all the shots while supported by unquestioning acolytes such as Beaumont and other appointed, but unelected, leaders whose generous salaries are paid out of Mashaba’s own pocket. They dance to his tune.

This is not a sustainable state of affairs. It is the antithesis of democracy. All of its provincial leaders and the members of its governing body, the so-called senate, are appointees. It is now high time for ActionSA to hold an elective conference, choose leaders and adopt policies and goals indicative of the direction in which it is going.

The public has the right to insist on this and to be vocal in its insistence that ActionSA operate as a democratic organisation. I challenge ActionSA to hold an elective conference with the least delay.

John Mendelsohn Paulshof