ActionSA’s newly appointed deputy president Dr. Mbahare Kekana has defended the decision to merge his party Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) with ActionSA a year before the much-anticipated local government elections in the country. Kekana was announced as ActionSA new second in charge during a media briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday, following an agreement reached with the leadership of ActionSA to “put together the two like-minded parties.”Speaking on YOU FM Newshour, Kekana said that the decision came after a series of meetings. “It was a marathon of talks between us and ActionSA including other parties.We started discussing early last year, then we paused because of elections (May 29 general elections), then after elections we started re-negotiating.I want to make it clear, this is not about us, and this is not about positions. It’s about our people on the ground who are suffering, who are struggling so we want to build a big alternative to fight against the Government of National Unity, to make sure that our people on the ground are getting the services they deserve,” said Kekana.He emphasised that the party’s 42 000 members were fully consulted and unanimously supported the move. “You can remember that Forum 4 Service Delivery is a 10-year-old political party, and we have been solid and very tight on the ground because we have always consult and talk to our members.We can put it that majority, which is 75% of our members, have been consulted, majority of our provinces unanimously agreed, the leadership at national agreed, our sponsors agreed, so we’ve got support from everyone,” explained KekanaAlthough the two parties are agreeing on many fronts, there seem to be contradictions on whether this means the immediate death of F4SD. ActionSA’s National Chairman Michael Beaumont said that the decision means the party cease to exist immediately with councillors and other leaders of the Forum in various municipalities falling under his party’s banner.But Kekana insists that F4SD will cease to exist at the end of the current local government term while their councillors will continue carrying dual membership of both parties.
