Durban - ACTIONSA provincial chairperson Dr Makhosi Khoza will not be contesting the eThekwini mayoral position.
Khoza, a former ANC deputy mayor in Pietermaritzburg and former ANC Member of Parliament, on Thursday dismissed rumours at a media briefing in Durban. There was speculation that the party would use Khoza’s experience in local government matters and her outspokenness to woo voters in eThekwini by appointing her as mayoral candidate.
“Contrary to the speculation that I will be the mayoral candidate in eThekwini, I wish to announce that I will not be returning to local government because I have been there and it was time for us to give the youth opportunities to get into this space. Ours is to give them support,” said Khoza
The briefing was attended by the party founder and its president, Herman Mashaba, who announced that ActionSA would be contesting elections in three municipalities in the province.
Mashaba vowed to bring the ANC below 50% in eThekwini, Newcastle and KwaDukuza municipalities. He said the announcement was “history in the making” for a party that was yet to celebrate its first birthday to make inroads in rural municipalities like Newcastle.
He said initially he had announced that the party would only contest three Gauteng metros – Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni – but after seeing the support his party was receiving in KwaZulu-Natal and the good work by Khoza and her team, he decided to contest in these municipal districts.
Mashaba announced Faizel Cassim as the mayoral candidate for Newcastle. He said Cassim unanimously received the support from all 34 wards in Newcastle to be the party mayoral candidate, and claimed people of Newcastle were fed up with mayor Ntuthuko Mahlaba’s shenanigans with the law. The mayor appeared in the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court on Monday facing charges of theft, assault and malicious damage to property.
Mashaba also announced Michelle Sewraj as their KwaDukuza campaign manager as well as Musa Kubheka for eThekwini.
“We are going to finish the ANC, starting in local government elections and in the 2024 general election. From the onset I said I want to unseat the ANC from power and with the support we are receiving on the ground that dream is about to be realised. People are gatvol with the ANC. Look at the monetary and human costs of the past weeks’ unrest. All that was a result of ANC failures. South Africa and the ANC will no longer co-exist,” said Mashaba.
He also announced that he was continuing with his class action lawsuit against the government and the ANC, saying all the cost of the unrest should be borne by the ANC and the government. He said 126 companies had already contacted the party lawyers showing support for the lawsuit.
Mashaba, a former DA mayor in Johannesburg, founded his party in August last year after leaving the DA, which he accused of not sharing his values of non-racialism.
Daily News