ActionSA has withdrawn its intended motion of no confidence against Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda. The motion of no confidence against the mayor was scheduled to be heard on Thursday.

NO CONFIDENCE

In a statement today, the party’s national chairperson Michael Beaumont said that the decision was a direct outcome of the DA refusing to put the interests of the multi-party charter for South Africa and the residents of Johannesburg. "After committing to talks about Joburg on the sidelines of the multi-party charter, the DA has refused to attend engagements about a proposal that would win back Joburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Knysna and various municipalities across the country for the parties of the charter," Beaumont said. He added that during the multi-party charter negotiations, it was unanimously agreed that membership needed to be expanded to give the charter the votes it required to win a majority in 2024.

BUILDING STRONG OPPOSITION TO THE EFF AND ANC

ActionSA says in the spirit of building broad opposition to the ANC and EFF, talks with the Patriotic Alliance (PA) resulted in the DA demonstrating their willingness to provide the required votes to remove Gwamanda and pave the way for parties in the multi-party charter. "This was going to demonstrate our first success in the project of building momentum for the 2024 elections. The PA had committed to bringing their seats to the arrangement in Joburg and numerous other municipalities across the country, requesting only to retain two MMCs in Joburg," Beaumont added. The party also says that the letters were issued to party leaders on Saturday confirming that the DA would not engage in talks, and would not work with the PA. According to Beaumont, without the DA’s support, the motion cannot succeed and continuing with it, he says, would only serve to damage the image of the multi-party charter for South Africa. "ActionSA and our partners in the IFP, FF Plus, ACDP, and UIM will use the time afforded by the temporary withdrawal to engage the DA to assist them in looking beyond their narrow interests in the Western Cape," he concluded.