ActionSA president Herman Mashaba hosts the party’s inaugural parliamentary press briefing at the Marks Building in Parliament. Photographer: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers
Cape Town - ActionSA president Herman Mashaba, joined by what has internally been dubbed the party’s “Super Six” MPs, gathered to provide a look at the parliamentary caucus’s performance following 100 days since their swearing in, and a critical review of the months-old National Government of Unity (GNU).
The media briefing took place at Parliament yesterday.
The party, formed in August 2020 by former Johannesburg mayor Mashaba, obtained six seats at Parliament.
Mashaba said the four year old party had 101 public representatives in all three spheres of government.
“As much as we were devastated when the results came out, on reflection, a few weeks down the line, we realised, we are only four years old but we are represented in all three spheres of government.”
ActionSA parliamentary chief whip, Lerato Ngobeni, described the situation at Home Affairs as “dire”.
“We just conducted an oversight of Home Affairs. The situation is dire.
“We are not tracking undocumented foreign nationals in our country. Home Affairs has no idea as to who is here or who is not.”
Ngobeni said another department that needed to be focused on and work she would be “championing”, was the Government Printing Works (GPW).
“GPW is in a state that is so dire that it will follow in the footsteps of the Post Office.
“What is going on at GPW is an absolute disaster and we need to make sure that we can follow-up on what is going on in that entity.
“The other one is the State Information Technology Agency, the SITA.
“These are folks that are responsible for everything digitally that happens at the department of Home Affairs and in every department, in every meeting, the SITA is a problem.”
ActionSA’s parliamentary leader, MP Athol Trollip, has taken the charge to hold Minister of Justice Thembisile Simelane accountable, writing letters to the President, the Public Protector, and Speaker.
The party also lodged criminal charges against Simelane.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) confirmed that a criminal complaint related to corruption and forgery is under investigation.
“We expect, at the very least, a resignation or a suspension or that she gets fired.
“We will be looking at updating the Ministerial Handbook that is related to our bloated Cabinet that costs this country more than a R1 billion annually and we will make sure that the necessary changes are brought to that.”
He also said people who are compromised and elected to Parliament should be addressed, such as in the case of impeached Judge and MKP MP John Hlophe and former Public Protector and EFF’s MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, introduced the party’s GNU Performance Tracker for the public and media.
Beaumont said in May 2024, there were over 300 cases of unresolved high profile cases of corruption.
This number has risen to over 400, as of October, 2024.
He said the cost of travel for government officials and the large entourages should be known as well as the cost and use of blue lights.
A parliamentary question related to the latter went unanswered, he said.
shakirah.theus@inl.co.za
Cape Argus