The following remarks were delivered by Herman Mashaba, President of ActionSA, at the funeral of the Late Dr. Ngoako David Thebehali.

Our focus now proceeds to initiating a full High Court legal review of the Public Protector’s report and to seek a cost order against the Public Protector or her office in this matter. Our legal team has been instructed to provide notice to the Office of the Public Protector of our intention to review the report.

An outstanding South African and devout Christian, the former mayor of Soweto, Thebehali, played an integral role in the upliftment of Soweto’s physical infrastructure as well as overall wellbeing of the community.

This is not us, South Africa. We are not the radicals who hate and sow divisions. We are not the extremists or the racists. We are the good, hard-working, law-abiding, family-oriented and freedom-loving people of our beloved country, and we are in the majority.

ActionSA has received written communication from the IEC that confirms our application to be registered as a political party has been approved.

There is no denying that the number of Covid-19 infections are rising in a manner that requires swift action. Political parties have an important role to play in this regard in respect of their members and communities.

In responding to the piece, “Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA is EFF-lite in disguise”, I thought it more appropriate to respond to you.

I write this open letter to you with a heavy heart. This afternoon I had a deeply unsettling engagement with a group of cleaners and security personnel employed to service SASSA offices countrywide.

This morning, Wednesday 2 December 2020, Herman Mashaba, President of Action visited the bereaved families of the three boys who drowned in a waterlogged storm water trench in Hammanskraal.