Gayton McKenzie and Herman Mashaba's Casual Meeting Divides South Africans Online

• Patriotic Alliance president Gayton McKenzie posted a video of himself and Action SA's Herman Mashaba meeting at his home
• McKenzie congratulated Mashaba on Action SA's strong election performance as coalition talks begin across key metros
• South Africans flooded the comments with sharp reactions to the two politicians sharing a celebratory meet-up

SOUTH AFRICA - A video of two political party leaders casually meeting has split opinion in South Africa. Patriotic Alliance president Gayton McKenzie shared the clip on social media, showing himself and ActionSA president Herman Mashaba shaking hands at McKenzie's home, both dressed in casual clothes and relaxed in mood.

McKenzie captioned the post with warm words for his guest, congratulating Herman Mashaba and ActionSA on their performance at the local government elections.

"You have done better than any other party including ours. I appreciate your visit to my house for a drink celebrating your success. I wish you the absolute best," he wrote.

Read also

"Find yourself a real job": Pieter Kriel speaks about local government election leaving SA divided

Coalition talks take shape after elections

The meeting comes as ActionSA begins engaging with various parties following local government elections that produced no outright winner in major metros like Tshwane and Johannesburg. With coalition negotiations underway, the gathering between McKenzie and Mashaba signals early informal diplomacy between the two leaders.

See video posted on X here:

Mzansi reacts to the political meetup

Not everyone was charmed by the friendly exchange. South Africans took to social media with pointed views about what the video represented:

@MotsatsiRo wrote:

"We vote and then they invite each other to celebrate our foolishness, politicians are nothing but hustlers 😭😭😭😭😭"

@NotReallyBudFox said:

"Read the room @HermanMashaba. How is aligning yourself with him helping you? South Africans are calling for him to be fired and you are associating with him."

@IAmMeganKing added:

"Get out of this video @HermanMashaba, aligning yourself with the PA is bad for business unless you've deceived us all."

Read also

South African who built a car without training travels to China for hybrid vehicle course

@BedworthTimes observed:

"You want everyone to know that he's the one who came to your house and not the other way round? We get it."

@laesonas noted:

"While other parties and politicians want to start working on fixing municipalities..."

Organisation starts petition to remove Gayton McKenzie from government

Briefly News also reported that a petition calling for Gayton McKenzie's resignation has brought renewed attention to allegations surrounding the Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader's public statements and past. The online campaign, launched by the Truth and Solidarity Movement, urges South Africans to demand that McKenzie immediately vacate his position as Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture.

The petition was started by Mehmet Vefa Dag, who identifies himself as the leader of the Truth and Solidarity Movement Party. It accuses McKenzie of promoting divisive rhetoric against Black South Africans and Africans more broadly.

Source: Briefly News