POLL | What do you make of Makhosi Khoza’s departure from ActionSA?

After months of back-and-forth, ActionSA announced this week that it had terminated the membership of senior leader Makhosi Khoza with immediate effect, sparking fierce debate about the party’s processes and future.

The party said its ethics and disciplinary committee found Khoza had brought it into “disrepute” for comments she made earlier this year, and recommended her membership be terminated.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika in January, leader Herman Mashaba said ActionSA found out through media reports that Khoza had been elected chairperson of the municipal public accounts committee with the help of ANC councillors in the eThekwini municipality. 

SABC reported that Khoza claimed she had received insults from senior leaders within the party for taking up the new position, and was accused of being “planted to destroy ActionSA from within”. Party national chairperson Michael Beaumont denied these claims.

The decision to terminate Khoza’s membership was met with mixed reaction, with some praising the party’s internal disciplinary structures and others claiming it was showing cracks that could lead to ActionSA’s downfall.

Speaking on the decision, the party claimed Khoza’s loyalties lay only in growing her political aspirations.

“There is no reasonable explanation for her continued abuse of the party, which she purports to promote. As a high-standing member of the party, she disregards the reputational damage to the party for apparent publicity and self-gain. Her loyalties do not lie with ActionSA and instead lie with aspiring to grow her own political aspirations, at the great cost of her constituency and ActionSA,” the party said.

ActionSA said it was pleased with how its internal institutions had addressed the matter and believed it was both fair and decisive.

“As a party we cannot guarantee the conduct of our members, this lies with their ethics and values. What we can assure all South Africans is that unacceptable conduct will be identified and addressed both fairly and decisively,” it said.