ActionSA President Herman Mashaba has announced a merge of his party with Forum 4 Service Delivery(F4SD) in preparation for the local government elections in 2026.
The Forum 4 Service Delivery(F4SD) was formed in 2015,has representation in several municipalities in five provinces and currently has mayorship in Ditsobotla Local Municipality in North West province.
During the press conference,he said today is the first of many steps that ActionSA is going to take,hand in hand with other like-minded political parties and leaders,to build the space for the rational opposition alternative in South Africa.
He revealed that the merger of these two political parties was conceptualized by the founder of Forum 4 Service Delivery last year.
"Shortly after ActionSA's refusal to join the so-called GNU and our exit from the Multi-Party Charter,Dr Kekana approached me to discuss the possibility of our parties coming together.I have been impressed by his vision and his selflessness in doing what he knows is correct for his party,its supporters and the people who look to the Forum 4 Service Delivery for leadership,"he said.
He seems happy that his party has agreed to merge with F4SD even though is not represented at the national level.
He said the Forum 4 Service Delivery was a natural first choice for ActionSA.While not represented in Parliament,its makeup is entirely oriented to local government,as its name suggests.Without any resources of any kind,it managed to be the 10th and 16th largest political party in South Africa in 2016 and 2021 respectively while only contesting a limited number of municipalities.In both elections the Forum 4 Service Delivery won over 80 000 votes.
He added that as it stands right now,the Forum 4 Service Delivery has 38 municipal seats in five provinces,which includes a Mayor,8 MMCs and 8 Chairpersons of Municipal Public Accounts Committees.The organisation has over 42 000 members and has enjoyed relatively stable leadership over the past 10 years.
He admitted that the decision of F4SD to approve the merge of these political parties was not the simplest decision to reach after many years of hard work for the party and his people.
He said Dr Kekana is a politician driven by his convictions and not his self-interest.His move to engage ActionSA sees him relinquish a 10-year investment of blood,sweat and tears to do what is right for his party and for the communities who look to him for leadership.
He revealed that ActionSA has decided to make changes on its constitution with the intention of accommodating Dr Kekana.
"It is for these reasons that the Senate of ActionSA have amended our interim constitution to establish the position of a Deputy President,and it is my pleasure today to announce that Dr Kekana will fill this role for ActionSA.My directives to him will be to work to build ActionSA structures and ensure that the greatest challenges facing these communities are being driven by ActionSA members,"said Mashaba.
Dr Kekana is arming with Post graduate Diploma in Management from the University of the North-West,a Masters in Governance from the University of the Free State and a Doctorate in Political Science from UKZN,and recently has added an LLB in his qualifications.