There are some policy questions on which political parties can legitimately disagree. There are others where the consequences of getting the answer wrong are so profound that we must be prepared to take a principled and unapologetic position.
For me, the question of whether government should build its own internal capacity to deliver essential services is one of those issues. I am not changing my stance.
ActionSA believes that South Africa must stop outsourcing functions that government is capable of performing itself, particularly where those functions are permanent, essential and directly connected to the daily lives of our citizens.
This is not hostility towards the private sector. I am a businessman and have spent my life believing in entrepreneurship, investment and the power of the private sector to create wealth.
But government has a different responsibility. Government exists to serve citizens, not to maximise profits. When a municipality requires people to collect refuse, clean public facilities, maintain infrastructure, provide security or perform other permanent frontline functions, we must ask a simple question: why are we paying intermediaries to employ the people doing work that government itself requires every day?
That is the question I asked when I became Mayor of Johannesburg. And I did not merely talk about it. We acted.
During my administration, Johannesburg directly absorbed thousands of security guards and cleaners into permanent City employment. Workers who had previously been vulnerable to labour brokers and tenderpreneurs received direct employment, proper employment conditions and dignity.
The principle was straightforward. If a worker is permanently required to perform a permanent function, there must be a compelling reason why that worker should not be permanently employed.
We discovered that tenderpreneurs could be paid substantially more than the workers ultimately doing the job. That is not empowerment. That is exploitation. And I refuse to accept a system where the politically connected become wealthy while the people actually doing the work remain trapped in insecure employment.
Look at what is happening at Pikitup. Casual workers at the Randburg depot have repeatedly protested over the lack of permanent employment, including workers who say they have been performing these functions for years. In July 2026, more than 300 casual workers contracted through Pikitup’s fleet ad-hoc service providers again embarked on protest action demanding permanent employment directly from Pikitup.
We need to stop and think about this. Refuse collection is not a temporary function. Johannesburg will need refuse collection next year. It will need it in five years. It will need it in 20 years. So why should the people doing this essential work be treated as temporary workers? Why should permanent municipal functions be structured around insecure employment while intermediaries and contractors make money from the system?
Why should a city continuously procure people to perform work that the city itself knows it will require permanently? This is precisely the kind of question that politicians must be willing to ask. The answer cannot always be another tender.
ActionSA’s position is that government must develop internal capacity, institutional knowledge and skills. We need to train South Africans. We need to develop artisans. We need engineers, technicians, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, environmental specialists, project managers, administrators and other skilled professionals within our public institutions.
We need government departments and municipalities that know how to do things themselves.
That is one of the lessons we can draw from countries such as China. The lesson is not that South Africa should copy China’s political system. The lesson is that a capable state cannot permanently outsource its institutional competence.
A government that cannot fix, maintain, manage or operate anything without hiring an outside company becomes dependent on contractors for its most basic responsibilities.
That is not state capacity. That is state dependency.
Tshwane is showing what is possible. This is why I am encouraged by what Executive Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya is doing in Tshwane.
The City has been strengthening its internal capacity, including filling critical vacancies and investing in skills development and artisan training. It has also pursued insourcing initiatives, including the employment of contract cleaners.
That is the direction we should be taking. We should not simply ask: Who can we give this tender to?
We should first ask: Can the municipality do this itself? Do we have the skills? If we don’t, why don’t we? Can we train South Africans to do it? Can we build the institutional capacity to perform this function efficiently over the long term?
Only when there is a genuine case that government cannot or should not perform a function internally should outsourcing become the preferred option.
That is not anti-business. It is responsible government.
Helen Zille has made it clear in her campaign for Johannesburg that she believes the private sector must play a major role in rebuilding the city’s infrastructure and services. Her stated position is that Johannesburg should partner with the private sector to rebuild infrastructure, attract investment and create jobs.
I respect her right to hold that position. But I disagree with the underlying philosophy when it becomes a substitute for government developing its own capacity.
The private sector has a legitimate responsibility to pursue a return on investment. That is what businesses do.
Government does not have that luxury. Government’s primary obligation is to protect the public interest and deliver services efficiently, sustainably and equitably.
Whenever government contracts out a function, the cost does not disappear. Someone pays for the company’s employees, overheads, management costs and profit margin. Ultimately, the taxpayer pays.
There are circumstances where private-sector expertise is absolutely necessary. ActionSA is not advocating an ideological ban on outsourcing or private-sector participation.
Where there is a clear business case, where government genuinely lacks the capacity, and where outsourcing delivers better value for citizens, it should be considered.
But where government can build and maintain the capacity itself, why should we create an unnecessary intermediary?
Tenderpreneurs cannot be the economic policy of South Africa.We must also confront the uncomfortable reality of South Africa’s tender economy.
For too long, government procurement has been presented as if issuing tenders automatically constitutes economic empowerment. It does not.
If a tender creates a wealthy intermediary while the worker performing the actual service remains poor, insecure and without benefits, we must question whether that model is delivering social justice.
If millions of rands leave the public purse but the worker at the end of the chain receives a fraction of that money, we need to examine the entire model.
If a municipality pays a contractor to employ someone to do a job that the municipality itself requires permanently, we should ask whether the contractor is adding genuine value or merely standing between the state and its workers.
Tenderpreneurs cannot be allowed to become the permanent middlemen between government and disadvantaged South Africans. I make no apology for saying that. I am angry about it because I have seen the consequences.
I have seen workers who were doing essential work for government but had no proper employment security. I have seen people who worked for years without the dignity of permanent employment. I have seen companies make substantial profits from public contracts while workers remained economically vulnerable. And I have seen how removing the middleman can change people’s lives. That is why we did it in Johannesburg.
For ActionSA, social justice is not a slogan. Social justice must mean something. It must mean that the disadvantaged are given a genuine opportunity to participate in the economy. It must mean that a person who works hard every day can earn a dignified income. It must mean skills development. It must mean permanent employment where the nature of the work is permanent. It must mean that government procurement does not become a mechanism for enriching a small politically connected class. And it must mean that privileged people and institutions work to expand opportunities for disadvantaged South Africans, rather than building systems that extract wealth from them.
This is why our approach to insourcing is fundamentally about more than municipal administration.
It is about dignity. It is about economic participation. It is about skills. It is about building capable institutions. And ultimately, it is about social justice.
We will not change course. ActionSA has been consistent on this issue. Our policy has long supported the professionalisation of the public service and the insourcing of functions where this is feasible, financially responsible and in the public interest.
In 2022, I called for legislation requiring municipalities to conduct feasibility and financial-impact assessments before outsourcing core functions. ActionSA has continued to push for insourcing and stronger municipal capacity. And today, our position remains exactly the same. I am not changing my stance. Where government requires a permanent service, we will build the internal capacity to provide that service wherever it is feasible and financially responsible.
Where South Africans need skills, we will train them. Where municipalities lack capacity, we will build it.
Where workers are being exploited by intermediaries, we will remove that exploitation.
Where private-sector participation is genuinely necessary, we will work with business.
But we will not outsource government simply because government has forgotten how to do things itself.
Johannesburg needs a government that is capable of delivering services. It needs political leadership that is prepared to put the interests of ordinary citizens ahead of self-interest. I did this as Mayor of Johannesburg. I will do it again. ActionSA will do it wherever we govern.
We are unapologetic about building internal capacity, empowering citizens with skills and restoring dignity to workers.
Because the purpose of government is not to create opportunities for tenderpreneurs. The purpose of government is to create opportunity, dignity and prosperity for its citizens. That is the South Africa we want to build. And on this matter, I am not changing my stance.
ActionSA Herman Mashaba: Remains the face and President of the party.