Latest news with #MichaelBeaumont
Mail & Guardian
7 days ago
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Born Free: Will ActionSA join the GNU? – With ActionSA National Chairperson Michael Beaumont
This week on Born Free , Khumo Kumalo and Otsile Nkadimeng sit down with ActionSA's National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont, for an unfiltered look at the state of South African politics. Is the Government of National Unity working — and would ActionSA ever join it? We get into the realities of coalition politics, what could change ahead of the 2026 local elections, and why young people should be at the center of real nation-building. We also talk Helen Zille's growing influence and what her political ambitions for Johannesburg could mean in the months ahead.🎧 Watch now, join the conversation in the comments, and don't forget to like & subscribe for more bold, youth-driven discussions on the future of South Africa. Khumo Kumalo is the visionary behind Misunderstood and the dynamic co-host of Born Free . Named one of the Mail & Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans of 2024 , he is a bold voice in the country's evolving political discourse. As the author of Newsletter 94 (formerly Misunderstood), Kumalo delves into South Africa's complex history and shifting political landscape, reflecting on the dreams and realities of a post-apartheid nation. His passion for debate and current affairs was ignited at St John's College , later taking him to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia , where he continued to sharpen his perspective on leadership and social change. Kumalo isn't just asking questions—he's challenging narratives, sparking conversations, and pushing South Africa's youth to rethink what it truly means to be Born Free . Otsile Nkadimeng is a published author, policy writer, and changemaker , balancing his role as a second-year university student with a deep commitment to youth empowerment. Recognized by News24 for his impact and awarded the Young Nelson Mandela Award in 2023 , he is shaping conversations on democracy, governance, and sustainability. As the Executive Director of SoWeVote , a platform he co-founded, Nkadimeng is making it easier for young South Africans to access critical information about politics and democracy. His advocacy extends beyond borders—he serves as a Youth Advisor to the Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria and is a fellow at the International Youth Think Tank , where he contributes to global youth policy discussions. Passionate about sustainability, he has co-founded and led multiple initiatives aimed at environmental and social progress across South Africa. Whether in civic engagement, international diplomacy, or grassroots activism, Nkadimeng is at the forefront of youth-led change, proving that young voices aren't just part of the conversation—they're leading it. Disclaimer: 'Born Free' is an opinion-based podcast and does not represent the views of M&G Media (PTY) LTD, its owners, affiliates, employees, or partners. The opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not reflect the editorial stance of the Mail & Guardian.
eNCA
23-06-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
ActionSA big wish list - To get local government working
JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA says it wants to fix local government. Almost all South African municipalities are plagued by corruption, mismanagement, and poor service delivery. Now, the party is launching a nationwide campaign focused on turning things around. The party's ActionSA National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont says this will not be an easy task and that that they would have to convince South Africans that there is a new way of fixing their community. "It is vital that we demonstrate to South Africans that the solution does not lie in staying away from the voting polls but look for a electoral alternative." One of the communities that the party is eyeing is Alexandra which in Beamonts view has been long struggling from water and electricity issues, filth on the road, potholes.
Eyewitness News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
ActionSA launches campaign for 2026 local govt elections in Alex, aims to boost financial support for municipalities
JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA has kicked off its campaign for next year's local government elections, with a key focus on boosting financial support for municipalities. While the party acknowledged the issues facing local government, it said that increased funding was essential for municipalities to function effectively. ActionSA's leadership launched the campaign on Monday morning in Alexandra. Along London Road in Johannesburg's Alexandra township, several homes were surrounded by sewage flowing down the street. Potholes were hard to see as they're filled with sewage water, and in some cases, filled with sand to cover them up. A strong and overpowering stench also filled the air. ActionSA national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said these issues were precisely what the party aimed to tackle if elected to govern. "It is so appropriate that ActionSA is here today [on Monday] to launch this campaign in Alexandra, in a community where you can see service delivery issues of many kinds have not been attended to for many years." Next year will be the second time that ActionSA runs for municipal elections. The party said it was born to address failures in local government. ALSO READ: Most South Africans favour coalition politics ahead of 2026 local elections - survey
Mail & Guardian
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
ActionSA: GNU gets F for failure to deliver
ActionSA has delivered a damning evaluation of the GNU. (@PresidencyZA/X) ActionSA has delivered a damning evaluation of South Africa's government of national unity (GNU), awarding it a series of failing grades and criticising it for operating in a leadership vacuum. The opposition political party on Tuesday released its ' The scorecard analysed and rated the coalition's performance across six critical themes including ethical leadership and public service; the economy; infrastructure; basic services; education and crime. A reflects an excellent performance, B good performance, C average performance, D poor performance, E minimal effort and F complete failure. ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the party had developed the tracker 'because the government, whose role it is to set the agenda and set the strategy of our country, has been silent on what our national KPIs [key performance indicators] are.' 'We didn't come here just to criticise. We've committed ourselves to be a constructive opposition. But when you do an honest assessment and you listen to the first-hand experience of these members of parliament, our government really hasn't done well,' Beaumont said. 'Not one of the new ministers and their plethora of deputy ministers have signed a performance agreement,' he said, detailing excessive government spending and criticising the size of the 'bloated cabinet'. 'The ANC refused to give up one seat and wanted to accommodate more people. Just that increase cost South African taxpayers R1.5 billion a year,' Trollip said. An ActionSA-led government would implement a lean, effective cabinet of no more than 20 ministers with all deputy minister positions abolished and ministerial perks 'drastically curtailed', he said. 'Ministers are public servants, not royalty, and must live as such … We have seen excessive travel extrapolated for the first year — close to R400 million of international travel. Ministers and our deputy president can spend between R250 000 and R350 000 a night in a hotel. That is completely unacceptable and doesn't reflect ethical leadership at all,' he said. 'Leadership is actually about being an example and … there's sadly a dearth of examples in leadership in this country. In fact, what we see every day is self-service and self-influence, which is not reflective of leadership. 'The only way to gain the public trust is to be transparent, and taxpayers want to know where their money is going, and unemployed, poor South Africans want to know why they can't get services, because they live a hand-to-mouth existence.' He said Ramaphosa was not acting against corruption and the Criminally charged people, such as 'There's supposed to be a war against corruption in this country. Nobody's seen one shot fired. The blame must be laid at the door of the NPA and the National Director of Public Prosecutions, because we see them lose case after case,' he said. ActionSA MP Alan Beasley painted a grim picture of unemployment and the economy, awarding the government an 'F' grade. 'In South Africa, we have 8.3 million people unemployed. There are a further 3.5 million workers who have been discouraged who have given up looking for work. So, there are nearly 12 million South Africans that are unemployed — 12 million South Africans that are being psychologically murdered because of unemployment,' he said. 'Under the GNU, it is getting worse. Unemployment is increasing … which under the GNU, has ticked up from 42.6% to 43.1% and, in the last quarter alone, 300 000 jobs were lost,' Beasley said. Economic growth forecasts had consistently declined, from 1.9% to potentially less than 1%, he added. Another MP, Malebo Kobe, analysed trade and transport challenges for which the government got a D because there are 'green shoots' of improvement but highlighted widespread problems with the country's infrastructure and transport sectors. According to the latest World Bank global container port performance index, the Port of Durban had dropped from position 369 to 393 in the world, while Cape Town had fallen to 401 under the GNU. Kobe added that South Africa was supposed to be a leader on the continent, yet ports like Berbera in Somalia ranked near the top 100, which was a missed opportunity. 'It is that we're not maximising our ports and our coastal communities are also paying the price for this,' she said, criticising Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson for unfulfilled promises. 'When the minister came in, he came in with the promise of creating a construction site for South Africa. But, in fact, what we are seeing is that, since he has come in, there's been a loss, in fact, of 103 000 jobs in the construction industry,' she said. MP Tebogo Letlape highlighted He said an important function of basic service delivery was access to proper sanitation, which was a basic human right and a cornerstone of public health and dignity. 'Just here in Slovo Park, you go to the corner of Slovo Drive and Freedom Way, and the sewage is leaking. And I can assure you right now that the He also highlighted the failure of a system where people who break the law get prioritised by the government. 'How are you going to have proper sanitation when you are allowing people to live anywhere they wish and they would then be empowered by the judiciary to have rights? 'So, you have this system where if you break the law, you jump the queue, you build a house in a riverbed, and suddenly you have to be prioritised in terms of housing ahead of all the others that have been waiting for two generations,' he said. He added that hospitals were overfull as they were having to cater for foreigners as well as citizens, and that municipal services such as electricity, are unaffordable for many. 'Electricity has improved but it's still not reliable. Not only is it not reliable, but it's also unaffordable. Now, when your input cost for energy is so high, how can you build an economy? How can you run your hospitals? How can you run transport?' The She said the high school dropout rate was alarming as only 53.6% of students who start grade 10 complete matric, a number that had dropped from 55.3% in 2024. 'Our education system, colleagues, is a true, true tragedy,' Ngobeni said. She also highlighted significant challenges with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, with the numbers of youth not in employment, education or training rising to 45.1%. South Africa's 'I can, this morning, give you names of lives that were lost in my community in Eldorado Park over the weekend. Three children below the age of 18 shot and killed, brutally. It's a daily occurrence in all our communities,' James said. The systemic failures extended beyond statistics, with critical infrastructure challenges hampering law enforcement. 'I cannot find anything good about 30 detectives having to sit in one office, sharing four cellphones. I cannot find anything good about one vehicle having to serve a community where bodies are being carried out on a daily basis,' James said. She mentioned specific cases to highlight the depth of the crisis, including murder incidents involving child victims such as 11-year-old Jayden-Lee Meek and 14-year-old Chanel Plaatjies, where repeat offenders were arrested, but subsequently aided by a broken justice system. 'Who is keeping this government to account? Who is enabling the crimes within our communities?' James asked. Beaumont said it was not enough for the coalition government to exist merely to ensure that Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe party and Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters were kept out of government, something DA leader John Steenhuisen has admitted was a motive for his party joining. 'It is not enough for the next five years to tell South Africa that we should be appreciative of what we've avoided. South Africans expect the GNU must govern, and it must deliver services, and it must deliver the changes that were promised during the election campaign,' Beaumont said. 'What you really have is a government that is running in multiple directions all at once and in no direction enough.'
Eyewitness News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
GNU scores 4 Fs on ActionSA's report card
It described the coalition government of being bereft of ideas, lacking in policy direction and strategy and of not having reformed government. With only six seats in Parliament, ActionSA said it had to step into the breach of being an opposition that's sorely lacking in holding government to account. Saturday (14 June) marked one year since political parties signed a statement of intent to form a government but ActionSA's national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said this was insufficient and a coalition agreement was needed to set policy direction. ALSO READ: • Steenhuisen warns GNU will be 'dead in the water' at 2029 polls if it doesn't create jobs, grow economy • DA is pragmatic on matters of style, principled on matters of substance - Steenhuisen • DA's Steenhuisen admits being in govt harder in reality than it appears from opposition benches • Steenhuisen says biggest surprise of past year is how well GNU partners stuck together He said that President Cyril Ramaphosa had also failed to deliver on a promised policy lekgotla. "In the absence of that, what we really have is a GNU that has become an implementing agent for the ANC, and if you were to ask the average government official what has changed in the last 18 months between then and now, they will tell you, it's just the bus driver that has changed." Meanwhile, parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, said that with up to half a billion rand spent on international travel in the first year of government, the GNU also lacked ethical leadership. "We have a new government, with 70% support of Parliament, and not one of the new ministers or their plethora of deputies have signed a performance agreement. One thing I do know is you can't manage if you can't measure." Overall, the party said that over the past year, the GNU had not moved the needle in improving the lives of millions of struggling South Africans.
