The organisation said the election watchdog’s move was based on a perceived similarity with another political party and the use of the South African flag in its logo.
The leadership of ActionSA. Picture: @HermanMashaba/Twitter
CAPE TOWN – ActionSA has described the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)’s decision not to register it as a political party as irrational.
The organisation said that the election watchdog’s move was based on a perceived similarity with another political party and the use of the South African flag in its logo.
Action SA wants to appeal the decision.
Action SA said that its branding was sufficiently different to that of the Party of Action’s and would not cause confusion.
The party’s Michael Beaumont said: “We are disappointed. We think that the IEC’s application of the law is incorrect and for that matter inconsistent. But at the same time, we remain optimistic that the internal process that we are participating in will result in the correct decision being made and for the registration of Action SA to be allowed.”
Beaumont said that the IEC has taken issue with their use of the national flag in the logo.
“The IEC’s ability to reject an application can only take place on two grounds; the first is the similarity ground I mentioned earlier and the second one is to identify marks of that party in gender hate speech and violence. Those are the only two grounds.”
Action SA is led by former Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba and was launched last month.