ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said the party saw itself as a potential kingmaker in KwaZulu-Natal as he announced Zwakele Mncwango as the party’s premier candidate in the province.
Mncwango, former DA provincial leader, joined the party last year.
ActionSA is not in the provincial legislature but is part of coalition governments in Newcastle and KwaDukuza (Stanger) and has councillors in the eThekwini Municipality.
Mashaba on Monday said they were willing to work with other parties in the province, outside of the ANC, as they believed they had the potential to become “kingmakers”.
He said Mncwango has a long history of service to the people of the province and represented the calibre of leadership the party hoped to bring into government.
“We are a party that believes in ethical leadership, this is crucial. We are living in a country where drug cartels are coming in and destroying our communities, we don’t want to live in a society where politicians can steal public money with impunity.”
Mashaba said he held Mncwango in the highest esteem, describing him as someone who was committed to public service and who “bravely took on the government at a provincial and local government level”.
“ActionSA has four councillors at the eThekwini council and we are not represented in the entire province, but if you follow the media you can see how active they are.”
Mashaba said Mncwango would soon motivate for the provincial legislature to be moved to Ulundi in honour of the late IFP founder Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
“Our business is to work towards the removal of the ANC in the province and you must mobilise other parties to support you to move the legislature to Ulundi. Put this motion on every available platform to make sure this happens,” he told Mncwango.
Mncwango said when he started his political career in 2002, his sole mandate was to represent the people of South Africa who have suffered the ills of the current government, and fight for the future that had been promised post-apartheid.
“I joined ActionSA a little over a year ago, and quickly realised I had finally found a place I can comfortably call home, a place that shares the same vision as I do for our beautiful country, and a place that believes we can achieve a non-racial society, believes in economic, ethical leadership and quality education for all South Africans to name a few things.”
Mncwango said the party had raised key issues in the eThekwini Municipality, including litigating against the Metro to ensure residents have access to reliable and dignified sanitation infrastructure, and preventing “looting if the City hosted the South African Music Awards”.
The Mercury