ActionSA continues with its strategy of recruiting former Democratic Alliance (DA) members, with its new appointment of Michelle Wasserman aimed at crippling DA’s dominance in the Western Cape.
Wasserman, a former DA deputy mayor in the Knysna council, will lead ActionSA and fulfil its political ambitions in the Western Cape.
She replaces the late Vytjie Mentor who passed away two months ago.
Wasserman, an attorney by profession, abandoned the blue party for the green mambas after she announced her resignation from the party earlier this year.
She holds a master’s degree in in human rights law and became a member of ActionSA in June. During her first term as councillor in Knysna between 2011 and 2015, she served as deputy mayor and then speaker.
Wasserman said that, like many leaders who resigned from the DA, toxic infighting was the reason for her departure.
She said despite the perception portrayed by the DA that the Western Cape was a well-run province, there was vast disparities between rich and poor.
Wasserman said voter participation dropped between the 2016 municipal elections and the 2021 elections.
“Some people say they didn’t vote in the last election. They had also planned not to vote in the coming election,” she said.
“People may argue that the Western Cape is just fine, that it is the best-run province, and that ActionSA should leave it alone and focus on other provinces.
“But in the Western Cape, voter turnout decreased from 63% in 2016 to 48% in 2021. Why is that?
“There are many communities in the Western Cape, where all levels of government have literally forgotten people. It is not surprising that people who live in the Western Cape compare where they live with the ‘leafy suburbs’, with their tarred roads, clean sidewalks and neatly trimmed grass verges, and wonder why things are so different for them,” she said.
Source: News24, Eyewitness News, IOL, image from Twitter: @MarciaBarron777
