702

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7 months ago

ActionSA intros bill so Members of Parliament can use public healthcare ActionSA argues that MPs, having no skin in the game, is slack in fixing healthcare. It has introduced a bill that would enable them to use the same healthcare as ordinary South Africans.

“... we [Members of Parliament] have no skin in the game..."

- Dr Kgosi Letlape, MP - #ActionSA

CapeTalk

@capetalk.bsky.social

7 months ago

ActionSA intros bill so Members of Parliament can use public healthcare ActionSA argues that MPs, having no skin in the game, is slack in fixing healthcare. It has introduced a bill that would enable them to use the same healthcare as ordinary South Africans.

“... we [Members of Parliament] have no skin in the game..."

- Dr Kgosi Letlape, MP - #ActionSA

702

@radio702.bsky.social

7 months ago

National Dialogue in crisis: ActionSA the latest to pull out? The National Dialogue is facing criticism and uncertainty, with parties questioning its purpose and value. We interview Athol Trollip, Parliamentary Leader of ActionSA.

"We do not want to go through a process that is dominated by an overbearing #ANC that has lost its majority and still wants to manipulate everything in the country."

- #AtholTrollip, Parliamentary Leader - #ActionSA

CapeTalk

@capetalk.bsky.social

7 months ago

National Dialogue in crisis: ActionSA the latest to pull out? The National Dialogue is facing criticism and uncertainty, with parties questioning its purpose and value. We interview Athol Trollip, Parliamentary Leader of ActionSA.

"We do not want to go through a process that is dominated by an overbearing #ANC that has lost its majority and still wants to manipulate everything in the country."

- #AtholTrollip, Parliamentary Leader - #ActionSA

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9 months ago

ActionSA: GNU gets F for failure to deliver Actionsa has delivered a damning evaluation of South Africa’s government of national unity (GNU), awarding it a series of failing grades and criticising it for operating in a leadership vacuum. The opposition political party on Tuesday released its ‘GNU performance tracker’ which aims to ‘objectively’ assess the coalition government formed by president Cyril Ramaphosa last year after the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) support dropped to 40% in the May general elections. The tracker paints a bleak picture of the government’s failures over the past year. The scorecard analysed and rated the coalition’s performance across six critical themes including ethical leadership and public service; the economy; infrastructure; basic services; education and crime. A reflects an excellent performance, B good performance, C average performance, D poor performance, E minimal effort and F complete failure. ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the party had developed the tracker “because the government, whose role it is to set the agenda and set the strategy of our country, has been silent on what our national key performance indicators are.” “We didn’t come here just to criticise. We’ve committed ourselves to be a constructive opposition. But when you do an honest assessment and you listen to the first-hand experience of these members of parliament (MP), our government really hasn’t done well,” Beaumont said. ActionSA MP Athol Trollip gave the government an F for leadership and public service. “Not one of the new ministers and their plethora of deputy ministers have signed a performance agreement,” he said, detailing excessive government spending and criticising the size of the “bloated cabinet”. “The ANC refused to give up one seat and wanted to accommodate more people. That increase cost South African taxpayers R1.5 billion a year,” Trollip said. An ActionSA-led government would implement a lean, effective cabinet of no more than 20 ministers with all deputy minister positions abolished and ministerial perks “drastically curtailed”, he said. “Ministers are public servants, not royalty, and must live as such. . . We have seen excessive travel extrapolated for the first year – close to R400 million of international travel. Ministers and our deputy president can spend between R250 000 and R350 000 a night in a hotel. That is completely unacceptable and doesn’t reflect ethical leadership at all,” he said. “Leadership is actually about being an example and. . . there’s sadly a dearth of examples in leadership in this country. In fact, what we see every day is self-service and self-influence, which is not reflective of leadership. “The only way to gain the public trust is to be transparent, and taxpayers want to know where their money is going, and unemployed, poor South Africans want to know why they can’t get services, because they live a hand-to-mouth existence.” He said Ramaphosa was not acting against corruption and the Zondo commission’s report on state capture was gathering dust. Criminally charged people, such as former president Jacob Zuma, continued to be granted court postponements, Trollip said, adding that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was failing in its duties. “There’s supposed to be a war against corruption in this country. Nobody’s seen one shot fired. The blame must be laid at the door of the NPA and the national director of public prosecutions, because we see them lose case after case,” he said. ActionSA MP Alan Beasley painted a grim picture of unemployment and the economy, awarding the government an F grade. “In South Africa, we have 8.3 million people unemployed. There are a further 3.5 million workers who have been discouraged, who have given up looking for work. So, there are nearly 12 million South Africans that are unemployed – 12 million South Africans that are being psychologically murdered because of unemployment,’ he said. “Under the GNU, it is getting worse. Unemployment is increasing. . . which under the GNU, has ticked up from 42.6% to 43.1% and, in the last quarter alone, 300 000 jobs were lost,” Beasley said. Economic growth forecasts had consistently declined, from 1.9% to potentially less than 1%, he added. Another MP, Malebo Kobe, analysed trade and transport challenges for which the government got a D because there are “green shoots” of improvement, but she highlighted widespread problems with the country’s infrastructure and transport sectors. According to the latest World Bank global container port performance index, the Port of Durban had dropped from position 369 to 393 in the world, while Cape Town had fallen to 401 under the GNU. Kobe added that South Africa was supposed to be a leader on the continent, yet ports like Berbera in Somalia ranked near the top 100, which was a missed opportunity. “It is that we’re not maximising our ports and our coastal communities are also paying the price for this,” she said, criticising minister of public works and infrastructure Dean Macpherson for unfulfilled promises. “When the minister came in, he came in with the promise of creating a construction site for South Africa. But, in fact, what we are seeing is that, since he has come in, there’s been a loss, in fact, of 103 000 jobs in the construction industry,” she said. MP Tebogo Letlape highlighted service delivery failures that got the government an F for this category of governance. He said an important function of basic service delivery was access to proper sanitation, which was a basic human right and a cornerstone of public health and dignity. “Just here in Slovo Park, you go to the corner of Slovo Drive and Freedom Way, and the sewage is leaking. And I can assure you right now that the sewage is leaking. You drive around Johannesburg, you have manholes that are lifted in the middle of the road, there’s sewage leaking,” Letlape said. He also highlighted the failure of a system where people who break the law get prioritised by the government. “How are you going to have proper sanitation when you are allowing people to live anywhere they wish and they would then be empowered by the judiciary to have rights? “So, you have this system where if you break the law, you jump the queue, you build a house in a riverbed, and suddenly you have to be prioritised in terms of housing ahead of all the others that have been waiting for two generations,” he said. He added that hospitals were overfull as they were having to cater for foreigners as well as citizens, and that municipal services such as electricity are unaffordable for many. “Electricity has improved but it’s still not reliable. Not only is it not reliable, but it’s also unaffordable. Now, when your input cost for energy is so high, how can you build an economy? How can you run your hospitals? How can you run transport?” The education assessment also revealed critical systemic failures and was given an E according to the scorecard, chief whip Lerato Ngobeni said. She said the high school dropout rate was alarming as only 53.6% of pupils who start Grade 10 complete matric, a number that had dropped from 55.3% in 2024. “Our education system, colleagues, is a true, true tragedy,” Ngobeni said. She also highlighted significant challenges with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, with the number of young people not in employment, education or training rising to 45.1%. South Africa’s crime landscape also remains dire with a staggering 5 727 murders recorded between January and March, according to the latest police statistics, MP Dereleen James noted, scoring the government an F in this category. “I can, this morning, give you names of lives that were lost in my community at Eldorado Park over the weekend. Three children below the age of 18 shot and killed, brutally. It’s a daily occurrence in all our communities,” James said. The systemic failures extend beyond statistics, with critical infrastructure challenges hampering law enforcement. “I cannot find anything good about 30 detectives having to sit in one office, sharing four cellphones. I cannot find anything good about one vehicle having to serve a community where bodies are being carried out on a daily basis,” James said. She mentioned specific cases to highlight the depth of the crisis, including murder incidents involving child victims such as Jayden-Lee Meek (11) and Chanel Plaatjies (14), where repeat offenders were arrested, but subsequently aided by a broken justice system. “Who is keeping this government to account? Who is enabling the crimes within our communities?” James asked. Beaumont said it was not enough for the coalition government to exist merely to ensure that Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters were kept out of government, something Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has admitted was a motive for his party joining. “It is not enough for the next five years to tell South Africa that we should be appreciative of what we’ve avoided. South Africans expect the GNU must govern, and it must deliver services, and it must deliver the changes that were promised during the election campaign,” Beaumont said. “What you really have is a government that is running in multiple directions all at once and in no direction enough.” – IOL The post ActionSA: GNU gets F for failure to deliver appeared first on The Namibian.

#ActionSA #SouthAfrica #Government #CyrilRamaphosa #PerformanceTracker

702

@radio702.bsky.social

9 months ago

Ministers are wasting YOUR money on exorbitant luxury travel – ActionSA As South Africans face economic strain, some ministers are under fire for taking luxury trips using taxpayer money while avoiding transparency on travel expenses.

"The money being spent by the executive is yours and mine. It is taxpayers' money!"

- Lerato Ngobeni, Chief Whip - #ActionSA

CapeTalk

@capetalk.bsky.social

9 months ago

Ministers are wasting YOUR money on exorbitant luxury travel – ActionSA As South Africans face economic strain, some ministers are under fire for taking luxury trips using taxpayer money while avoiding transparency on travel expenses.

"The money being spent by the executive is yours and mine. It is taxpayers' money!"

- Lerato Ngobeni, Chief Whip - #ActionSA

702

@radio702.bsky.social

10 months ago

'ActionSA will never participate in this bloated government' - Herman Mashaba The opposition party leader opens up about his upbringing, personal politics, leading by example and more.

"I did not accept to be the mayor of the City of #Johannesburg because I was after tenders... I went into politics because I was concerned with the level of deep-rooted corruption happening in our country."

- #HermanMashaba, President - #ActionSA

CapeTalk

@capetalk.bsky.social

10 months ago

'ActionSA will never participate in this bloated government' - Herman Mashaba The opposition party leader opens up about his upbringing, personal politics, leading by example and more.

"I did not accept to be the mayor of the City of #Johannesburg because I was after tenders... I went into politics because I was concerned with the level of deep-rooted corruption happening in our country."

- #HermanMashaba, President - #ActionSA

702

@radio702.bsky.social

10 months ago

ActionSA gives Mantashe 60 days to create plan to retrieve Lily Mine victims’ bodies Three miners died in 2016 when a section of Lily Mine in Mpumalanga collapsed, trapping them underground.

#ActionSA said it has given Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources #GwedeMantashe a 60-day ultimatum to come up with a plan to retrieve the remains of the #LilyMine victims.

CapeTalk

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10 months ago

ActionSA gives Mantashe 60 days to create plan to retrieve Lily Mine victims’ bodies Three miners died in 2016 when a section of Lily Mine in Mpumalanga collapsed, trapping them underground.

#ActionSA said it has given Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources #GwedeMantashe a 60-day ultimatum to come up with a plan to retrieve the remains of the #LilyMine victims.

Faizel Patel

@faizelpatel.bsky.social

11 months ago

ActionSA files application for IPID's 'top secret' Phala Phala report | The Citizen The findings of IPID’s probe on the theft of foreign currency from Ramaphosa’s farm was classified “top secret” by police minister Senzo Mchnunu.

ActionSA files application for IPID’s ‘top secret’ Phala Phala report #ActionSA #PhalaPhala #CyrilRamaphosa

www.citizen.co.za/news/south-a...

702

@radio702.bsky.social

11 months ago

Is the GNU at breaking point, and where to from here? 3 likely scenarios... What does the future hold for South Africa’s Government of National Unity? Could we see the DA out in favour of the EFF?

Ferial Haffajee explores three possible options for the future of the #GNU:

1. The status quo holds

2. Drop the #DA, bring in #ActionSA and #Bosa

3. A more populist GNU

CapeTalk

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11 months ago

Is the GNU at breaking point, and where to from here? 3 likely scenarios... What does the future hold for South Africa’s Government of National Unity? Could we see the DA out in favour of the EFF?

Ferial Haffajee explores three possible options for the future of the #GNU:

1. The status quo holds

2. Drop the #DA, bring in #ActionSA and #Bosa

3. A more populist GNU

702

@radio702.bsky.social

11 months ago

Mashaba says ActionSA not considering joining GNU until VAT hike withdrawn Herman Mashaba said he would not give any thought to such a proposal, which has not been made by the ANC, until the VAT increase and income tax bracket creep matters had been resolved.

#ActionSA said it was premature to suggest it would join the #GNU after it last week supported the #ANC in getting the fiscal framework passed in Parliament.

CapeTalk

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11 months ago

Mashaba says ActionSA not considering joining GNU until VAT hike withdrawn Herman Mashaba said he would not give any thought to such a proposal, which has not been made by the ANC, until the VAT increase and income tax bracket creep matters had been resolved.

#ActionSA said it was premature to suggest it would join the #GNU after it last week supported the #ANC in getting the fiscal framework passed in Parliament.

702

@radio702.bsky.social

11 months ago

Not ActionSA’s problem if ANC fails to remove VAT hike before 1 May – Herman Mashaba ActionSA voted in favour of the 2025 budget after reportedly coming to an agreement with the ANC that the VAT hike would later be removed.

“The #ANC has a responsibility to ensure that before 1 May they bring in a new Bill [to reverse the #VAT hike]... If the ANC fails to meet those deadlines, it is not going to be our problem.”

- #HermanMashaba, Leader - #ActionSA

CapeTalk

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11 months ago

Not ActionSA’s problem if ANC fails to remove VAT hike before 1 May – Herman Mashaba ActionSA voted in favour of the 2025 budget after reportedly coming to an agreement with the ANC that the VAT hike would later be removed.

“The #ANC has a responsibility to ensure that before 1 May they bring in a new Bill [to reverse the #VAT hike]... If the ANC fails to meet those deadlines, it is not going to be our problem.”

- #HermanMashaba, Leader - #ActionSA

702

@radio702.bsky.social

11 months ago

ActionSA confident it's presented viable plan to Godongwana to enable govt to raise revenue without hiking VAT The party is adamant it will be able to reverse the 0.5 percentage point increase to VAT, which kicks in on 1 May.

#ActionSA is confident it has presented a viable plan to the finance minister that will enable the government to raise the required revenue without increasing VAT.

CapeTalk

@capetalk.bsky.social

11 months ago

ActionSA confident it's presented viable plan to Godongwana to enable govt to raise revenue without hiking VAT The party is adamant it will be able to reverse the 0.5 percentage point increase to VAT, which kicks in on 1 May.

#ActionSA is confident it has presented a viable plan to the finance minister that will enable the government to raise the required revenue without increasing VAT.

Trump

@trump.activitypub.awakari.com.ap.brid.gy

11 months ago

Dancing on the edge of a cliff MPs celebrate a budget that raises taxes, risks jobs, and accelera...

www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-opinion/dancing...

#Columnists #Opinion #ActionSA #Agoa #ANC #MPs #ANC #secretary-general #Budget #2025 #Democratic

Event Attributes

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1 year ago

Budget Deadlock -- Is Actionsa the ANC's Saviour and What Does It Mean for the GNU? [Namibian] ActionSA offered the ANC crucial support to pass the fiscal framework on Tuesday as talks with the DA deadlocked. The vote heads to the National Assembly on Wednesday and could determine the future of the Government of National Unity.

#Namibia #ANC #ActionSA #BudgetDeadlock #GovernmentOfNationalUnity

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1 year ago

Budget deadlock — is ActionSA the ANC’s saviour and what does it mean for the GNU? ActionSA offered the ANC crucial support to pass the fiscal framework on Tuesday as talks with the DA deadlocked. The vote heads to the National Assembly on Wednesday and could determine the future of the Government of National Unity. On Tuesday, during a finance committee meeting in Parliament, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) — both members of the Government of National Unity (GNU) — voted for a fiscal framework report which featured a recommendation tabled by ActionSA’s Alan Beesley. It was a key step in passing the 2025 Budget, which has divided the GNU’s largest members, the ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA). The parties’ leaders, Cyril Ramaphosa and John Steenhuisen, met on Tuesday, while the ANC garnered support from outside the GNU to get the fiscal framework through the committee. Negotiations between the two parties were reportedly ongoing and expected to go down to the wire. If those discussions fail, ActionSA could help the ANC get the Budget over the line. Speaking on whether the collaboration between the ANC and ActionSA meant ActionSA was now part of the GNU, Beesley, ActionSA’s representative on Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance, said, “It’s been purely about the Budget at the moment, so we haven’t got into any discussions about that.” The fiscal framework establishes economic policy and revenue projections and sets the overall limits to government spending. The National Assembly is expected to vote on it on Wednesday afternoon. This is despite questions raised by the DA, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) over the legality of the report passed on Tuesday. The ANC needs 201 of the 400 votes in the National Assembly to pass the fiscal framework. It has 159 votes of its own and has secured support from various political parties, including 17 votes from the IFP, nine from the PA, three from the UDM, two each from Rise Mzansi and Al Jama-ah, and one each from Good and the PAC. With ActionSA’s six seats, this adds up to 200 votes. The ANC has been actively lobbying other parties for support, including the ACDP and Bosa. An ActionSA insider told Daily Maverick that the ANC had made several concessions in exchange for their support on the Budget. The concessions include “a future in the GNU”, and as a result, ActionSA agreed to narrow its demands, prioritising only the VAT and income tax increases, the two issues that have stirred the most concern among South Africans. VAT debate ActionSA claimed victory following the vote, saying the 0.5 percentage point VAT increase in the proposed Budget, as well as income tax bracket creep, where tax brackets aren’t adjusted for inflation, had effectively been scrapped. The recommendation tasks Parliament and the National Treasury with finding alternative revenue and expenditure proposals within 30 days. The DA and other parties, however, said the recommendation wasn’t binding and that ActionSA had effectively passed the VAT increase. “The DA condemns this sell-out tactic by ActionSA, which has worked with the ANC to adopt the Budget and has condemned the poorest South Africans to a higher cost of living,” said ​​DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp. “By adopting this Budget without the reforms and changes that were needed, ActionSA has shamefully shut down the required government spending review. This is extremely irresponsible and will hand a blank cheque to the ANC to continue spending government money without review.” The DA, EFF and MK voted against the fiscal framework report and made it clear there were legal aspects at play when it came to the procedure regarding whether the amendment could be inserted and the report adopted. ActionSA’s new tune ActionSA’s support for the Budget comes weeks after the party said it would not support a VAT increase. The planned VAT hike will come into effect on 1 May if the Budget is passed in Parliament. Speaking to journalists about this turn, Beesley said the party was still adamant it would not support VAT increases. “ActionSA has made the decision that we would reject any VAT increases, but we must allow the Budget system to go forward.” When asked if this proposal would stand against legal scrutiny, Beesley said, “Yes, I’m very confident. We’ll know if it gets taken to court, but we’re very happy and very confident.” ActionSA has not officially commented on its future participation in the governing coalition, saying that only Budget-related issues had been discussed with the ANC. However, considering its history with the ANC, it seems likely the party could play some role, as it already has a working relationship with the ANC in at least two Gauteng metros. In Johannesburg, when the ANC wanted to take over the mayoralty now occupied by Dada Morero, it turned to ActionSA for support. ActionSA also holds the important role of Speaker of the Council, filled by Nobuhle Mthembu. She got the position after ActionSA agreed to a “conditional partnership”, meaning it would vote with the ANC on an issue-by-issue basis. ActionSA set conditions for this, including the removal of the then mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, and the scrapping of the controversial R200 electricity surcharge, which is still in place. In Tshwane, ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya holds the role of executive mayor. The ANC agreed to support an ActionSA mayor as part of a coalition agreement, similar to the one in Johannesburg ANC, DA still at odds The DA’s spokesperson on finance, Dr Mark Burke, told Daily Maverick the party would be looking at a range of options following Tuesday’s meeting, including legal options. “We will use every means at our disposal, including legal, to oppose the madness that we saw happening here today,” he said. “There was nothing procedural, and we kept trying to make constructive recommendations to get the process back to something that is vaguely recognisable in law, and they’ve just completely diverted from that. “That’s not my decision to make … I’m sure our Federal Executive will meet on this and chart a way forward.” Speaking to journalists earlier on Tuesday, the ANC secretary- general, Fikile Mbalula, said that should the DA forge ahead with the decision not to support the Budget, the GNU could collapse. “Everything has implications,” he said. Mbalula later said if the ANC was able to pass the Budget without the assistance of the DA, then there would be a “reconfiguration”. Previously, the DA suggested that it would be the end of the GNU if the Budget was passed without its support. Following ActionSA’s proposed amendment, FF Plus spokesperson Wouter Wessels said the party would consider supporting it after looking at the final version. “It can’t be a blank cheque for support. We will have to look at it and consider what it entails, but it’s very uncertain what is going to happen from now.” Unlike the DA and ANC, Wessels was optimistic the GNU would survive the Budget storm, which is one of many incidents that have highlighted significant fractures within the fragile 10-party GNU, which is still divided over several pieces of legislation, including the NHI Act, Bela Act and Expropriation Act. Commenting further on the talks, Mbalula warned, “If you engage with this process on the basis of political scoring, it may lead to situations in which [the] GNU itself … has to be reconfigured.” ActionSA’s full submission ActionSA’s Beesley read the party’s full submission to the fiscal framework report: “The fiscal framework tabled by the minister of finance is supported subject to the strict condition that National Treasury facilitates the receipt of substitute revenue proposals from the committee, together with corresponding expenditure savings, that will form the basis of an alternative revenue proposal instead of: “a) The proposed 0.5 percentage point increase in Value-Added Tax (VAT) for the 2025/26 financial year, effective 1 May 2025, in respect of which the committee has expressed serious concerns; and “b) The failure to adjust personal income tax brackets in line with the higher of the actual CPI inflation rate for 2024 or the projected CPI inflation rate for 2025 to prevent bracket creep; and “Furthermore, the committee recommends that the alternative revenue proposals and expenditure savings to balance the R28-billion shortfall — which must effectively suspend the proposed increases — be finalised and submitted by the committee to process within 30 days for consideration and adoption of this report by the House.” DM The post Budget deadlock — is ActionSA the ANC’s saviour and what does it mean for the GNU? appeared first on The Namibian.

#Budget2025 #ActionSA #ANC #GovernmentOfNationalUnity #FiscalFramework

702

@radio702.bsky.social

1 year ago

DA accuses ANC, ActionSA of betraying South Africans after deal backing budget The two parties agreed to adopt a finance committee report supporting the national budget, which includes the 0.5 percentage point value-added tax increase.

The #DA has accused #ActionSA and the #ANC of betraying #SouthAfricans after the two parties agreed to adopt a finance committee report supporting the national budget.

CapeTalk

@capetalk.bsky.social

1 year ago

DA accuses ANC, ActionSA of betraying South Africans after deal backing budget The two parties agreed to adopt a finance committee report supporting the national budget, which includes the 0.5 percentage point value-added tax increase.

The #DA has accused #ActionSA and the #ANC of betraying #SouthAfricans after the two parties agreed to adopt a finance committee report supporting the national budget.