ActionSA’s Mashaba, Beaumont dismayed by poll performance

ActionSA, led by Herman Mashaba, held its final rally in Midrand and streamed it digitally to followers nationally. l TIMOTHY BERNARD/INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

ActionSA, led by Herman Mashaba, held its final rally in Midrand and streamed it digitally to followers nationally. l TIMOTHY BERNARD/INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Published May 31, 2024

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ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, says they are not happy about the results the party achieved in the recent national and provincial poll.

Beaumont said this on Friday while addressing media at the Results Operation Centre (ROC).

“We feel that enough results are starting to come through. We can now start to talk about how results could possibly show the numbers can end up falling. We stress that there are still more numbers coming out.

“To simply characterise these elections, these are the numbers we were looking for as an organisation. We are not going to sugar coat the situation,” he added.

At one stage, ActionSA had hundred five thousand votes, which translated to 1,11%.

Party leader Herman Mashaba apportioned the party’s “poor” performance to the emergence of former President Jacob Zuma’s MK Party, saying that it took most of the Action SA’s voters.

“We were not ready for MK, and honestly we didn’t expect that they would get these numbers. They took us by surprise, especially in Gauteng.

“We will go back to the drawing board,” Mashaba said.

Zuma’ party has surprised many with its performance, especially in Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

The party is set to take over KwaZulu-Natal, which traditionally was the ANC’s stronghold.

It took an early lead in the province. However, parties such as the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) were adamant that once the metros’ results were captured, the picture would change dramatically.

On Thursday, MKP secretary-general, Sihle Ngubane, said the party was set to decide who would represent it in Parliament when it gets seats at the National Assembly from the party’s list of candidates.

Meanwhile, there are reports that some of political parties were already approaching former president Zuma on possible coalition deals.

The Star