For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: Funzi Ngobeni is ActionSA’s Premier candidate for Gauteng; RISE Mzansi takes largest chunk of donations to political parties; And, Bhengu-Motsiri says ANC won’t comment further on DA’s cadre deployment ‘theatrics’

Funzi Ngobeni is ActionSA’s Premier candidate for Gauteng

ActionSA Gauteng chairperson Funzi Ngobeni urged Gauteng residents to give the party the mandate to govern and execute its policies its own way, saying ActionSA’s objective is to strengthen consequence mechanism processes to create zero tolerance for corruption.

He said this is not to say that ActionSA would not accept the outcomes of a coalition government, as it is part of a Multi-Party Charter, but its main intention is to govern on its own and lead the province out of the depressing trenches it has found itself in.

Ngobeni was officially declared the party’s Gauteng Premier candidate ahead of the upcoming elections in May, by ActionSA president Herman Mashaba, in Johannesburg.

Ngobeni said ActionSA was unapologetic about the need for the removal of the African National Congress from government on May 29.

Ngobeni announced the party’s strategy for reigniting the economy, introducing its infrastructure roadmap – a carefully thought-out strategy to ignite economic growth.

RISE Mzansi takes largest chunk of donations to political parties

In the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa’s latest party funding disclosure report, RISE Mzansi declared the highest amount of donations, totalling just over R16.7-million.

In the third quarter, seven political parties declared their donations for the period between October 1 and December 31, 2023.

The total value of donations for the quarter was over R59-million. The IEC said there had been a steady increase in the value of donations disclosed for the quarter, which it attributed to an increase in party fundraising ahead of the May elections.

ActionSA snagged the second highest in donations, with just over R13.9-million.

The African National Congress declared R10-million in donations, all from the Chancellor House Trust. Build One South Africa declared R8.5-million. The Patriotic Alliance had over R7-million in donations. The DA, declared over R2.6-million in donations.

The Inkatha Freedom Party received an in-kind donation of over R191 000 for the quarter, from Konrad Adenauer Stiftung NPC, relating to a training workshop for members.

And, Bhengu-Motsiri says ANC won’t comment further on DA’s cadre deployment ‘theatrics’

The African National Congress reiterated its position that cadre deployment is a globally accepted practice and said it will not offer further comment on the so-called “theatrics” of the Democratic Alliance and its Multi-Party Charter partners.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party noted the “cynical and hypocritical distortion” of the cadre deployment narrative by the DA and opposition parties who, Bhengu-Motsiri said, were “bristling with their characteristic political opportunism and adventurism”.

On Tuesday, the DA announced that it would be submitting a fresh Promotion of Access to Information Act application to obtain the ANC’s outstanding cadre deployment meeting minutes, a list of decisions, WhatsApp conversations, email threads, CVs, and all other documents relevant to the work of all regional and provincial cadre deployment committees dating back to January 2013.

This was the period when President Cyril Ramaphosa was the chairperson of the ANC national deployment committee.

The DA gave the ANC 30 days to comply with its PAIA application, which the opposition party said was based on the same rationale that led to its Constitutional Court victory.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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