Correcting Pieter Du Toit’s Agenda

News24 Deputy Editor, Pieter du Toit’s most recent editorial, entitled “Acid ActionSA’s Biggest Test and Mending Relations with Zille and the DA”, requires a response more considered than his own.

This is often the case when senior editors and media outlets pursue a political agenda, which explains why they turn over political editors faster than MK turns over Secretary-Generals. Is that ‘acidic’ enough for you, Pieter?

Du Toit’s clumsy contradiction is that he declares ActionSA’s influence insignificant and declining, before proceeding to observe that no governments would be formed without ActionSA in Joburg and beyond. Let us unpack these conflicting statements for a moment.

To substantiate his own puzzling claim that ActionSA is small, du Toit relies on other vessels in the DA’s echo chamber, such as Gareth van Onselen (former DA Head of Communications) and the fact that the party has not won a by-election in Joburg. 

What du Toit elects to withhold from his readers is that, in those very by-elections, ActionSA consistently delivered surges in support of the kind that, when applied across the city on 4 November 2026, will generate significant growth. 

In Ward 2, Mogale, ActionSA contested for the first time in February 2026 and secured 29%, eclipsing the DA, EFF and MK, and finishing second only to the ANC. In October 2025, ActionSA became the first party since the advent of democracy to win a ward from the ANC in Zeerust. In Ward 130, Joburg (Soweto), the party grew from 8% to 22%, again finishing second and surpassing both MK and the EFF. In Merafong (Khutsong), also contested for the first time, ActionSA secured 16%, finishing third and beating both MK and the DA. 

None of this suggests a party whose influence is anything other than rising from its 2021 position as the third-largest party in Joburg. Naturally, du Toit makes no comment on how the DA recorded results as low as 1% in these former ANC strongholds or did not contest at all. Presumably, the only by-elections that matter to du Toit and the DA are those in suburban areas.

Du Toit proceeds to shake his pom-poms for Zille’s mayoral campaign in Joburg without any honest reference to Mashaba’s campaign. A cursory glance at Mashaba’s social media platforms shows that he is on the ground, hosting multiple events daily, gathering hundreds of residents at a time to convey a clear message: he is ready and has a plan to complete the unfinished business he began as Joburg’s only successful mayor in this race. 

Granted, Mashaba’s campaign does not rely on rubber boats, wetsuits or gimmicks. It does not need to. He has been a resident of this city for decades and remains the only candidate with a proven track record of service in it, with an indisputable record that residents know and respect.

Instead, Mashaba’s campaign focuses on his record in the city and his plan to pick up where he left off through #OperationFixJoburg. He does so without the benefit of du Toit personally attending campaign events and live tweeting from them, as he has personally done for Zille’s campaign. 

In analyzing the 2024 election results, du Toit declares that ActionSA is not a party with a national footprint. He makes no effort to consider that ActionSA has remained outside the GNU and has acted as the most effective opposition party in Parliament.

No recognition is given to the fact that ActionSA leads government in the capital city, where its nationally recognised mayor has, objectively, begun turning around a city that had been broken by others for many years.

Without any appreciation of irony, du Toit stumbles upon the correct conclusion that no government will be formed in Joburg, or many other places, without ActionSA. At least on this point, we agree. However, he quickly abandons rationality and shifts to the claim that ActionSA is built around anti-DA sentiment.

While it is undeniable that the relationship between the two parties is strained, as it is with many others too, reducing ActionSA to this single dimension merely exposes du Toit’s political agenda.

After all, it was the DA, not ActionSA, that collapsed coalition talks the night before mayors were set to be elected in 2021, forcing other parties to act to prevent the election of ANC mayors without formal agreements in place. This followed a campaign in which the DA spent millions on attack advertisements targeting Mashaba and ActionSA.

It was the DA, not ActionSA, that collapsed coalitions in Joburg and undermined subsequent efforts to restore a governing majority behind its own mayor, Mpho Phalatse. It was the DA, not ActionSA, that established a multi-party charter while simultaneously campaigning against its so-called partners and exploring cooperation with the ANC. And it was the DA, not ActionSA, that attempted to displace coalition partners in Tshwane by extending the GNU into Gauteng metros. 

Naturally, du Toit makes zero effort to reference these events in characterising the relationship between the two parties.

From this point, du Toit moves into his final charade by concluding that ActionSA “must make the adult decision about cooperation with the DA”. Presumably, this is for ActionSA to join him in posing as a cheerleader for Helen Zille, as though we have no constituency, manifesto or governance record of our own.

The truth is that ActionSA has consistently communicated its willingness to consider coalitions with any party that commits to its principles of service delivery for all, a non-negotiable fight against corruption, and a clear plan to address the crisis of illegal immigration in major cities such as Joburg.

The fact that the DA has put forward a candidate like Helen Zille in Joburg, who has proven antithetical to stable coalitions in Gauteng, is a simple fact that Pieter du Toit refuses to engage with.

Should du Toit, or the DA for that matter, wish to engage in a serious discussion with ActionSA on coalition governance, they will find a party that is open-minded and focused on what is best for Joburg. 

However, du Toit’s view appears to be that ActionSA has some God-given duty to align with Helen Zille and the DA for the privilege of doing so, without any meaningful reform to the DA’s historically problematic attitude to coalitions and co-governance. In that sense, du Toit’s understanding of coalitions is as tenuous as Zille’s.

ActionSA Coalition Kingmaker: Essential to multi-party coalitions in major metros.