Outgoing ActionSA secretary-general in KwaZulu-Natal Bongani Caluza said the dissolution of the provincial executive committee (PEC) was a damage control mechanism by the party because the entire leadership had already resigned.
Caluza and other former members of the ActionSA PEC held a media briefing on Friday to disclose why they had resigned from the party over the last three weeks.
He said the party was a “social media machinery” that had lost touch with its constituency due to the dictatorship.
“The party has alienated its real owners, ordinary South Africans who bought into the fake dream of a political party that will not be made up of dictators. There is no freedom in ActionSA, especially for people who are not members of the senate and those who do not have big money to sponsor the national office.”
Cakuza said the party’s announcement on Tuesday that it had resolved to disband the provincial PEC was an attempt to save face after all but three regional chairpersons had resigned.
“They are trying to deviate from the fact (that) members of the PEC resigned. For their damage control, they took a decision to issue a statement that says the PEC is disbanded.
“There was no longer a PEC because all regional chairpersons resigned, ActionSA is only left with three regional chairpersons in KZN: Faizel Cassim of AmaJuba region, Nel Sewraj from iLembe and the Zululand region which is led by ambassador (Elias) Ntuli,” said Caluza.
“Those individuals are friends of the president. So people must be clear, ActionSA has no direction. There is no ActionSA, this thing is a business of Herman Mashaba and his friends just to keep themselves busy.”
Caluza said the province had to work extra hard to convince people to follow ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba who, he claimed, had no footprint in the province.
“No one knows Mashaba here in KZN, if you’re recruiting, people are confused. ‘Who is Mashaba?’ You have to explain for 30 minutes.
“He has no followers so we are convincing people to join this organisation without knowing the leader because Mashaba is not popular enough.”
Busisiwe Ntshingila, the former eThekwini regional chairperson who resigned on Monday, said she had never been a member of the ANC so she was very disturbed when ActionSA accused her of being an “ANC person”.
“I have never been a member of the ANC, they don’t even know my ID number. But even if I was, so what? They have just appointed a provincial chairperson in Mpumalanga from the ANC.”
Ntshingila said she left ActionSA because of philosophical differences, not because she was power-hungry.
She said it was an environment that did not foster a “healthy dialogue, engagement or progression” as they were micromanaged to a point of being told they could not use words like “comrades”, for example.
TimesLIVE
'No freedom in ActionSA,' say former members of party's KZN provincial executive committee
Image: Nqubeko Mbhele
Outgoing ActionSA secretary-general in KwaZulu-Natal Bongani Caluza said the dissolution of the provincial executive committee (PEC) was a damage control mechanism by the party because the entire leadership had already resigned.
Caluza and other former members of the ActionSA PEC held a media briefing on Friday to disclose why they had resigned from the party over the last three weeks.
He said the party was a “social media machinery” that had lost touch with its constituency due to the dictatorship.
“The party has alienated its real owners, ordinary South Africans who bought into the fake dream of a political party that will not be made up of dictators. There is no freedom in ActionSA, especially for people who are not members of the senate and those who do not have big money to sponsor the national office.”
Cakuza said the party’s announcement on Tuesday that it had resolved to disband the provincial PEC was an attempt to save face after all but three regional chairpersons had resigned.
“They are trying to deviate from the fact (that) members of the PEC resigned. For their damage control, they took a decision to issue a statement that says the PEC is disbanded.
“There was no longer a PEC because all regional chairpersons resigned, ActionSA is only left with three regional chairpersons in KZN: Faizel Cassim of AmaJuba region, Nel Sewraj from iLembe and the Zululand region which is led by ambassador (Elias) Ntuli,” said Caluza.
“Those individuals are friends of the president. So people must be clear, ActionSA has no direction. There is no ActionSA, this thing is a business of Herman Mashaba and his friends just to keep themselves busy.”
Caluza said the province had to work extra hard to convince people to follow ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba who, he claimed, had no footprint in the province.
“No one knows Mashaba here in KZN, if you’re recruiting, people are confused. ‘Who is Mashaba?’ You have to explain for 30 minutes.
“He has no followers so we are convincing people to join this organisation without knowing the leader because Mashaba is not popular enough.”
Busisiwe Ntshingila, the former eThekwini regional chairperson who resigned on Monday, said she had never been a member of the ANC so she was very disturbed when ActionSA accused her of being an “ANC person”.
“I have never been a member of the ANC, they don’t even know my ID number. But even if I was, so what? They have just appointed a provincial chairperson in Mpumalanga from the ANC.”
Ntshingila said she left ActionSA because of philosophical differences, not because she was power-hungry.
She said it was an environment that did not foster a “healthy dialogue, engagement or progression” as they were micromanaged to a point of being told they could not use words like “comrades”, for example.
TimesLIVE
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