ActionSA’s application to be registered as a political party has finally been approved by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
The party’s interim president, Herman Mashaba, received the news on Saturday morning and was beaming with excitement as he spoke about their future prospects.
“We already have 160 000 volunteers throughout the country and this issue of the registration was a worry to them. There are going to be celebrations all over the country,” Mashaba told City Press.
The IEC in September rejected ActionSA’s application over concerns that the party’s logo was similar to that of another political party.
Its logo features the South African flag and appears to be like that of the Party of Action.
Read: DA continues to lose members to Mashaba’s ActionSA
The commission cited a violation of section 16 (1)(b) of the Electoral Commission Act which states that the electoral office may reject a party’s registration if its distinguishing mark or symbol resembles that of another party which may deceive or confuse voters.
Mashaba then launched an appeal which was ultimately dismissed. That is when the party decided to redesign the logo.
“Our new logo, which has been approved by the IEC, remains consistent with the logo that was originally filed. This was important to ActionSA because its identity was the subject of a nine-month long public engagement process.”
“It keeps the shapes of the South African flag infused with the direction arrow denoting the progress of the A for action. In real terms, the colours of the logo have simply changed to green,” the party said in a statement issued on Sunday morning.
Mashaba said that the party was ready to contest the 2021 local elections, in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane.
“Taking over these municipalities will help in unseating the ANC and make them irrelevant, make them a rural political party and then come 2024 we will be ready to contesting all nine provinces,” according to Mashaba.
Feasibility studies are still underway which will inform whether they will also try to infiltrate eThekwini, Mangaung and Nelson Mandela Bay.