Overview
- ActionSA more than doubled its Tshwane representation in the 4 November local elections, winning 48 of 214 council seats compared with the ANC’s 44 and the DA’s 74.
- The party already holds the mayoralty through Nasiphi Moya, who became mayor in October 2024, and is pressing to keep that post as coalition negotiations proceed.
- Leader Herman Mashaba says ActionSA negotiators have opened talks with the ANC while setting public conditions for any deal with the DA, including the removal of Helen Zille and Cilliers Brink from mayoral contention.
- A media review of social posts shows many self-identified ActionSA supporters oppose a deal with the ANC, creating internal tension between pragmatic power‑sharing and the party’s founding anti‑ANC identity.
- Analysts warn the coming deals will decide whether ActionSA converts local gains into visible service delivery and stable administrations or is sidelined and reduced to a personality‑centered protest party; council mayors are expected to be elected when the new councils convene around 22 November.