ActionSA's Mncwango to target apathy and make elections 'as exciting as 1994'

Newly appointed leader of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal Zwakele Mncwango believes the party’s growth lies in renewing the interest of voters in the elections of representative democracies. 

Speaking to TimesLIVE on Tuesday, Mncwango said the key was in making elections as exciting as they were in 1994. 

“There are many people in different parts of KZN who are saying they will no longer vote —  they are our first target,” he said. 

While admitting that overcoming voter apathy will not be easy, the ActionSA leader's job is to make sure the party is a home for those who have lost hope.

“People who say 'I have been voting ANC and there is no change' are my first targets to ensure that the disgruntled are given hope and get as excited about voting as they were in 1994.

“I know I can't just say 'come vote ActionSA' without explaining what that vote will do for them. That means I will be out there in communities, at town hall meetings, at street meetings where I engage with communities face to face because people want to be seen, heard and have their questions answered,” he said.

Mncwango — who boasts 22 years in politics — recently left the DA to join a “DA splinter party”, but he dismissed any suggestions that ActionSA is just another DA but for black people. 

“It is exciting to me that ActionSA is the only organisation gaining support from across different demographics and communities. In Gauteng, they have support in Sandton and Alexandra, for example, which makes the party not comparable to the DA. 

“Today I was doing fundraising, and the excitement is across racial lines. People who are excited about the move I took to ActionSA are not only DA members, some were in the ANC. There is something they have been wanting to explore with the party, but it has not had strong presence in KZN, and now they are ready to come along,” said Mncwango. 

ActionSA contested three KZN municipalities in the past local government elections:  eThekwini, where the party got four seats, KwaDukuza, where it got five, and Newcastle, where it got four seats. Mncwango said it was encouraging for him that where ActionSA contested they were able to garner votes. 

And now he wants to take the party to all corners of the province ahead of the 2024 general elections.

“We will focus on all areas of the province, every area is important, all communities will see ActionSA because for the party to make inroads it needs to treat everyone as part of its constituency,” he said. 

Mncwango comes in as the party has been rocked by infighting and an inability to build top structures that will help its growth. He told TimesLIVE Premium some of the ActionSA members who left the party had reached out to him, indicating they would like to rejoin. 

“My work now is to engage those people, understand what the issues were and go forward, but I am not starting from scratch. There are already branches across the province, but there was a leadership vacuum. After analysing the structures one will be able to see where there are gaps,” he said.

While Mncwango is not naive enough to believe that a new party can take over the province come 2024, he believes discussions of a coalition government should start soon, “as the ANC will not get an outright majority and no opposition will either”. 

“We must be realistic about our prospects in the next election. It helps that, way before elections, we start discussing coalitions. We may differ ideologically, but what we want for our country is what will bring opposition parties together.

“There is unemployment, collapsing infrastructure, Eskom and many problems at state entities and those are basic principles we can start with so that after elections the focus of negotiations is not on positions but on forming a government — I want to say to KZN opposition parties, let us start engaging now,” he said. 

Mncwango believes that building an activist-based organisation will be a formidable foundation on which to start putting together leadership structures in regions and ultimately the province.