ActionSA Reviews GNU’s Performance During the First Year, Gives Coalition Government 4 F’s

• ActionSA has conducted a review of the performance of the Government of National Unity (GNU) over the past year
• The GNU was set up following the 2024 National Elections, when no political party secured a majority vote
• Michael Beaumont criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for failing to implement a policy lekogtla as promised

Briefly News journalist Byron Pillay has dedicated a decade to reporting on the South African political landscape, crime, and social issues. He spent 10 years working for the Northern Natal Courier before transitioning to online journalism.

GAUTENG – It’s officially one year since the Government of National Unity (GNU) has been in charge of running South Africa, but ActionSA isn’t impressed.

Herman Mashaba’s political party has assessed the performance of the coalition government, rating it very poorly. The coalition government was formed after no party received the majority vote in the 2024 National Elections.

Since then, ActionSA has often criticised the government. Despite this, Mashaba previously indicated that he would join the GNU if asked.

ActionSA rates GNU’s performance

During a special press briefing on Tuesday, 17 June 2025, the party presented its One-Year Review of the GNU. The party presented a report card which it focused on six themes.

The themes are ethical leadership and public service, economic growth that creates jobs, enhances infrastructure for efficient trade and transport, improves basic service delivery, quality education for all, and law and order that upholds a just society.

The party gave the GNU four F’s, a D and an E for themes, scoring it an E overall for the year. You can view the report card below.

Michael Beaumont says GNU is an implementing agent

While addressing the media, Action SA’s National Chairperson, Michael Beaumont, criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to deliver on a promise policy lekgotla, adding that the coalition government was just an implementing agent for the African National Congress.

"In the absence of that, what we have is a GNU that has become an implementing agent for the ANC. And if you were to ask the average government official what has changed in the last 18 months between then and now, they will tell you, it’s just the bus driver that has changed," he stated.

Beaumont also criticised the narrative that the GNU was putting out. He stated that the coalition government was running in multiple directions all at once, and in no direction at all.

He added that in many ways, the country had a GNU that spent a lot of time telling South Africans that they should be grateful for what they avoided, which was an extremist government. He added that while this was true, it wasn’t enough to hear about it for the next five years, as South Africans expected the GNU to govern.

Athol Trollip says GNU lacks ethical leadership

Parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, also focused on the fact that R204 million was spent on international travel by ministers during the first year, adding that the government lacked ethical leadership.

"We have a new government, with 70% support of Parliament, and not one of the new ministers or their plethora of deputies has signed a performance agreement. One thing I do know is you can't manage if you can't measure," he added.

The party has promised to monitor the performance of the coalition government and hold it accountable in the role of the constructive opposition. It's

ActionSA describes GNU as an Instagram government

In a related article, Beaumont lambasted the GNU, describing the coalition as an Instagram government.

Briefly News reported that ActionSA's National Chairperson said the GNU cared more about PR.

Beaumont made the comments in October 2024, as the coalition government celebrated 100 years in power.

Source: Briefly News