ActionSA councillor defects to DA with 50+ members, calls former party a 'cult'

ActionSA PR councillor Mandla Nyaqela announced his decision to defect to the Democratic Alliance (DA), joined by four other branch leaders and more than 50 members. The announcement was made during a press conference in Dobsonville, Soweto, on Thursday, 26 February.

Nyaqela is a councillor for Ward 48 who gained a proportional representation seat in the Johannesburg council, meaning his seat was awarded to ActionSA.

He was joined on stage by the DA mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille, and other ActionSA members who had defected, including Ward 37 chairperson Sipho Magubane. The group arrived on stage wearing their green ActionSA T-shirts, which they took off and replaced with blue DA shirts.

The members who crossed over came from five Soweto branches: Dobsonville, Zondi, Jabulani, Mofolo and Braamfischerville.

Nyaqela said he had resigned from ActionSA on Thursday morning, and the decision to defect was the result of three months of negotiations brought on by what he claimed was an undemocratic leadership style under Herman Mashaba. He described the party as a “cult”.

Nyaqela said, “ActionSA is selling hope to the people of this country. ActionSA is selling hope to the residents of the city of Johannesburg. I am from inside — I know they do not have power. It is a powermongering organisation that is hoping for your votes to reach their own selfish political gains.

“[Defecting] was from witnessing this dictatorship from the leadership of ActionSA, especially the president. That organisation is a one-man dictatorship show, [in] which no one else has a say.”

Nyaqela said the DA was a “progressive” party with more democratic processes, which nurtured and promoted leadership internally.

He claimed that he, along with the branch leaders who defected to the DA, had built ActionSA’s support base in Soweto, with more than 20,000 voters casting their votes for him. He anticipated that their support base would follow them to the DA in the upcoming local government elections.

Zille welcomed the former ActionSA members, calling their move “courageous”.

“We love every South African, we love Joburg, and we want the city to work for all the people,” said Zille. “I want to thank Mandla and Sipho and all the other colleagues here today for their courage and their conviction and their determination.”

ActionSA ‘welcomes’ departure

ActionSA welcomed Nyaqela’s resignation and called him “underperforming”.

“Given concerns that had already been identified and were being addressed through our performance review process, ActionSA welcomes the departure and thanks the DA for saving us the trouble of a lengthy disciplinary process, while also providing the perfect opportunity to shortly introduce an exceptional, committed community activist into council,” said ActionSA spokesperson Cannedy Netshitungulu.

But Nyaqela rubbished the claims, stating it was a “lie” that he was facing disciplinary action and referring to the statement as a “counterattack”.

In 2021, Nyaqela launched an ActionSA branch with more than 100 members. He has previously voiced discontent with the party, accusing it of treating him poorly after the 2021 elections and leaving before rejoining the party in October 2024 alongside 70 community activists. He has since accused the party of sidelining community activists to promote members who had closer ties to Mashaba.

“ActionSA did not grow from trees. We are the ones who grew ActionSA, and we are the ones who will collapse it,” he said.

ActionSA has not yet confirmed a new councillor to take Nyaqela’s place. DM