LISTEN | ActionSA officially unveils Athol Trollip as its Eastern Cape leader

Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA has officially unveiled former DA federal chairperson Athol Trollip as its newest recruit.

He will be the party’s Eastern Cape leader.

Trollip left his DA position in 2019 together with then leader Mmusi Maimane after his loss to Helen Zille for the position of chairperson of the federal council.

Mashaba, who was then Johannesburg mayor, was the first to resign from the party.

Since his resignation in 2019, Trollip has kept a low profile in active politics. He is the second high-profile former DA member to join ActionSA this year.

Last month former DA Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi was unveiled as the latest to join the party and is expected to be its premier candidate in 2024.

Speaking at a press conference in Gqeberha on Wednesday, Trollip said he would not malign his former party.

He said he decided to join ActionSA because he wanted to see change. 

“I want to see real democratic change happening again in SA in my life. Many of us, people my age, thought we wouldn’t see political change. We did see change as 1994 did bring change. I want to see change coming again. I want to see real political change,” he said.

“I realised change doesn’t happen on its own. The only thing that happens on its own with regards to change are the changing of the seasons, the tides and the difference between day and night. All other change, especially political change, comes with action.”

He said the reason he had gone back to politics was that the country’s heritage was being stolen.

Trollip said the ruling ANC had been warned by late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sipho Pityana, but did not take heed.

“The current political establishment has failed SA and I am convinced they are not going to change of their own volition. Government has broken almost every single political promise they have made.”

Asked about his views on the EFF, a party with which he had a fallout while he was Nelson Mandela Bay mayor, Trollip said he had a long talk with Mashaba about the party.

Mashaba is seen as having a cosy relationship with the EFF owing to his time as Johannesburg mayor.

“I hold diametrically different positions to what’s happening in this country, to what is required to fix this country, to those held by the EFF.

“The EFF is clearly a very racist organisation that benefits from fanning the flames of racism in SA,” said Trollip.

He did not believe Mashaba was sympathetic to EFF leader Julius Malema, who held different views to him about capitalism and ownership of land.

TimesLIVE