Maimane? Van Damme? Here’s who tweeps think may join ActionSA next

Mmusi Maimane, Mbali Ntuli and Phumzile Van Damme are some of the names being thrown around after Herman Mashaba announced on Sunday that another politician had been recruited to join the party’s growing leadership. 

ActionSA spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni told TimesLIVE she was not in a position to reveal who the new member is, saying all will be revealed on Wednesday. 

Current and former DA members dominated guesses on social media, which some said were not far-fetched considering ActionSA’s history of recruiting former DA members, including former Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi.

Mmusi Maimane

Former DA leader Maimane left the party in October 2019.

He said there were members within the DA who did not share his vision for the direction the party was taking, and claimed there had been a consistent co-ordinated attack against him and his family. 

His resignation followed that of Mashaba, who was a DA Joburg mayor. 

Maimane and Mashaba worked together briefly and announced in December 2019 the formation of The People’s Dialogue, an initiative through which the politicians engaged South Africans on issues of governance and service delivery.

Their working relationship was short-lived as they announced a split in January 2020 after both decided to start their own initiatives. 

In a joint statement, Mashaba said he had his sights set on launching a political party while Maimane said he would focus on establishing a “movement for one SA”. The pair have since launched ActionSA and One SA Movement respectively. 

Phumzile Van Damme

Van Damme resigned from the DA in May last year to work on her anti-information project.

Her resignation was met with speculation that she would join another political party, but she poured cold water on the rumours, saying she would not return to politics.

Mbali Ntuli

Ntuli is a member of the DA and of the party’s public works portfolio in KwaZulu-Natal. Last year she challenged John Steenhuisen for the leadership position but lost in a landslide.

Mashaba tweeted on Monday that some of the predictions were correct, although he did not reveal the person’s name. 

Here are some of the predictions: