ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba addressing followers at a soccer ground in Ga-Ramotse, Hammanskraal, where the party is launching its 2024 election campaign.
Despite the sweltering heat of Hammanskraal, thousands of ActionSA supporters came out to support one of their own as Herman Mashaba returned to his hometown to ask for their vote.
Mashaba, who was born and raised in the area, led his party’s national, provincial and local leaders to the launch of the 2024 national election campaign at the Ga-Ramotse sports ground.
The party will be contesting the national election for the first time since its formation in 2020.
In 2021, it contested the local government election, where it exceeded expectations. Its sound performance saw it become part of the key players coalition governments, particularly in Gauteng.
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Before getting down to the business of the day, regarding what he promised his party would do if voted into power next year, Mashaba recalled his childhood walking around the streets.
He reminded people that, before founding his successful Black Like Me haircare products, he had been a poor youngster who was raised by his sisters while his mother was employed as a domestic worker in Johannesburg.
His struggles started when, at the age of two, he lost his father.
However, hard work and perseverance had propelled him to where he was at present, a leader wanting to play a role in changing the plight of the community.
He urged people to register to vote in the 2024 election and remove the government of the ANC, which was not taking their problems seriously, but was obsessed only with looting.
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Mashaba said that, although he was making promises to people, they were not empty ones. His party, he insisted, was action-driven.
He added that the governing party had blunted the optimism which had filled the country after 1994 and had allowed South Africa to descend into lawlessness.
“The hope and optimism we felt in 1994 were taken from us by self-serving, unpatriotic South Africans,” he said. They had looted the state coffers and enriched themselves while 12 million people were jobless.
Mashaba, adding that many households were growing steadily poorer because of corrupt officials in government, said:
These unpatriotic South Africans have allowed our society to descend into [crime and graft], spending more on VIP protection than on fighting the gangs and drugs that corrupt our children.
He said ActionSA would take action to build an inclusive economy which would create jobs.
Mashaba said he was pained that the industrial area of Ga-Rankuwa, which had once been the home of Black Like Me products, was now deserted.
“It saddens me that the Babeligi industrial area – which used to employ thousands of people of Hammanskraal – is now just a shadow of its former self,” he said.
Mashaba said his party would take steps to end poverty and protect the vulnerable.
He asked:
How can we be proud of a country where people are forced to rely on R350 a month as their only income, while billions of rands are wasted on corrupt tenders that only benefit these unpatriotic South Africans?
He said his party would also ensure that all borders were secured and safe.
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