Action SA leader, Herman Mashaba, has declined to reveal the name of one of the (ANC) top six members he has had an informal conversation with.
He however says they discussed the possibility of a coalition in major municipalities in Gauteng.
Mashaba addressed the media at the Independent Electoral Commission National Results Operations Centre in Pretoria on Wednesday.
“Yeah, one of the top six, it was informal and I think for me, I really respect them, I wasn’t going to entertain it, the discussion. It was the first time they approached me, yesterday, I was hardly half an hour here and that time every media house wanted to speak to me and I said please just give me a chance – I think you’re asking me something totally impossible. I said wait for my call and I can tell you that call will not come in three hundred years,” says Mashaba.
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Mashaba says he is now looking to make his party a national one.
With 27% of voting districts declared, the party is projected to garner 6.6% of votes in Gauteng and 1.6% nationally.
According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) projection, the former Johannesburg mayor’s newly formed party will take over as the fourth biggest player in Gauteng.
Political analysts say as a result, this will place Mashaba at an advantage in coalition talks in the coming days.
Mashaba says he is already working on starting a national campaign.
“The work of starting a national campaign is already underway because there isn’t a province where you don’t really have people on the ground. That’s why if you follow Action SA, people were looking for us in Klerksdorp, in Mafikeng, in Limpopo and everywhere else. So I think it’s just a question of how Action SA can move as quickly as possible to officially put structures to have a provincial chairperson in the six outstanding provinces,” says Mashaba.
