‘Who suffers? The residents’ — Mashaba’s election rerun warning

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has weighed in on talks of possible election reruns in hung municipalities, saying he was confident his party would defeat the ANC at the polls but cautioned citizens stood to suffer. 

This comes after ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday pointed out that if coalition agreements could not be made, a rerun of elections in hung municipalities could be forced.

According to the  Electoral Commission, no party achieved a majority in 66 municipalities in the recent local government elections.

Briefing the media on ActionSA’s coalition plans on Tuesday, Mashaba said if the party is forced to go for a rerun, it will do it. However, he cautioned citizens stood to suffer if there was the prospect of a rerun. 

“In the event no political party manages to get an outright majority, we are not afraid to go for election reruns.

“If we are forced to go for a rerun, we will do that, but in that period when we are campaigning again, who suffers? The residents because there is a governing vacuum,” said Mashaba. 

He said ActionSA would try to avoid election reruns by concluding coalition agreements. 

“We are going to do everything possible to ensure we don't go into election reruns. We will do everything in our power to ensure we conclude coalition agreements,” he said. 

Mashaba's statement comes after EFF deputy Floyd Shivambu said the red berets were not intimidated by a rerun.

Shivambu predicted a rerun of elections will “wipe out the dying ANC to zero”. 

“Ramaphosa says the ANC is ready for a rerun of elections in municipalities where coalition governments cannot be constituted, and he thinks we are afraid. We are not,” he said.