THE relationship between the Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA is an illustration of the saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
The two parties have been at loggerheads since the beginning of 2022 but with the ANC in crisis, the parties have seized the opportunity to find ways to try and defeat the governing party at the 2024 general election.
On Thursday, 8 December, it was announced that DA leader John Steenhuisen and ActionSA president Herman Mashaba had held a long-overdue bilateral meeting in Joburg.
ActionSA national spokeswoman Lerato Ngobeni said the meeting involved assessing the current state of politics in the country, especially recent events relating to President Cyril Ramaphosa and pathways to removing the ANC from office in 2024.
She said both parties reflected on events relating to local government coalitions over the past year, and the need to stabilise municipalities.
“It was recognised that more needed to be done to build confidence in the prospects of successful national and provincial coalition alternatives to failed ANC governments,” she said.
“A commitment was made by both parties to collaborate with other like-minded political parties ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections, with a view to galvanising South Africans behind a viable alternative to the ANC.”
Ngobeni said both parties resolved to collaborate better while recognising that they would differ from time to time.
“With a president implicated in wrongdoing and a country in the depression of stage 6 load shedding, both parties agreed that it has never been more important for like-minded political parties to collaborate,” she said.
