Johannesburg - South Africa’s young political kid on the block, ActionSA, has appealed to its supporters to donate R30 to the party as part of fundraising efforts for the 2024 elections.
In a video posted on social media, the party’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said: "ActionSA will be contesting all nine provinces in next year’s provincial and national elections in South Africa.“
“We will be competing with political parties that, even though they have failed the South African public for so many years, continue to receive billions and billions of rand from taxpayers. ActionSA has to raise every cent ourselves. It is for that reason that we are reaching out to you, the supporters of ActionSA."
Beaumont said the party would be announcing a five-digit number where supporters and benefactors can donate their R30. The number would work across all cellphone networks.
Beaumont told The Star that ActionSA was reaching out to the public for donations because political parties needed hundreds of millions of rand to run political campaigns.
He said in the last national elections, the ANC spent around R1 billion on campaigning, while the DA spent around R600 million. The EFF had spent around R300m.
"This is crowd funding. There are different ways of fund-raising, and this is one of them. With a large number of people, this could add up to a considerable amount of money," Beaumont said.
The request for small donations sparked reactions from some social media users. Some accused ActionSA of receiving money from powerful families such as the Oppenheimers.
Beaumont admitted that there had been some funds that the Oppenheimers had donated, but he said these had been declared already.
However, he denied that wealthy businessman Rob Hersov had been funding ActionSA. Hersov had been seen at some DA events and has been known to be politically connected.
"The people saying these things are EFF bots; we have to differentiate between social media users and EFF bots," Beaumont said.
Beaumont said the money raised would go towards the structures of the party. The money would also be used for rallies, campaign gear, and other party activities.
He said ActionSA was gearing up to become one of the largest opposition parties in the country. At the same time, he said the party would aim for the seat of power before settling on becoming the official opposition.
The Star