ActionSA to sack unruly members who lost out on being councillors

ActionSA is embroiled in a squabble over deployment to municipal councils, with its leadership now threatening to sack those questioning their criteria to be selected as proportional representation councillors.

The year-old party has come out as one of the kingmakers in Gauteng, especially in the City of Johannesburg, after last week’s local government elections.

But this week it has emerged that some of its members in Soweto and the City of Tshwane were not happy that they didn’t make the cut on the party’s PR list, and have sent complaints to party leadership.

ActionSA won 78 seats across municipalities in Gauteng, the party’s stronghold.

Michael Beaumont, ActionSA chairperson, told TimesLIVE that the party was going to take action against party members who acted against the party’s constitution.

“We are obviously acting very decisively against those who are using this as an opportunity to divide our organisation and I can tell you there will be people dismissed at the senate this evening, I suspect quite strongly. Because their conduct crosses the lines of our constitution.

“But at the same time there are a lot of people who are disappointed but are dealing with us in good faith and we are engaging them, we are talking to them about the fact that this is a growing organisation,” said Beaumont.

The senate is the party’s highest decision-making body.

News24 reported on Friday that a group of disgruntled ActionSA members in Soweto accused the party of using them to garner votes while its big shots will be the only ones who make it into the Johannesburg council.

TimesLIVE has seen further complaints over the PR list by party members in Tshwane which were posted in a WhatsApp group.

“It appears that everyone and every ward around the different municipalities have the same problems with no communication and what appears to be jobs for friends. We too have a PR list that is not representative of the work, money spent or knowledge of the area as PR councillors. No communication or direction,” reads one WhatsApp message. 

Another message cautions the party about the impact of the PR list saga.

“It seems as if the issue of the PR list will bring down the good foundation that is started comrades. There are structures that all grievances must be taken to. And as Ekurhuleni comrade Lerato has [sent] the audio in the group to address the issue of complaining in this group.

“With all due respect, let's take our complaints to the high structures where leadership can deal with the matter. It is a good thing to raise concerns but comrades let us use this group for information, recruiting and building a big strong united ActionSA. My plea to leadership is to address this issue in all metros before this escalates in bringing the party into disrepute. And clearly the criteria used must be explained to all leaders concerned,” reads another message.

Beaumont said there were people who were disappointed by an election outcome in the sense that they were not elected from the PR list or they narrowly lost out on wards.

“I think the issues differ from person to person but a fallacy in the idea that this is somehow representing a majority of any kind. It’s a limited number of people and there is effort on the part of some individuals to create misinformation. But it comes down to one thing, and we are not going to be shy to say it, is that these individuals are unhappy about an election outcome,” said Beaumont.

TimesLIVE