South Africa: Small Parties Outsmart the DA in Talks

HelenOnline/Wikimedia Commons
(file photo).
17 August 2023
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
analysis By Zukile Majova

The DA is coming out of multi-party coalition talks as the big losers.

The talks held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park were a DA initiative which was designed to rebrand the party as the big brother of opposition parties.

But the discussions involving seven political parties started by cutting the DA's ego down to size.

First, they threw the DA's so-called moonshot pact out of the window, replacing it with the multi-party charter for South Africa.

Next, the parties accused the DA of negotiating in bad faith amid claims that the DA and the ANC were considering forming a super coalition to co-govern in provinces where no party secures a clear majority.

Outsmarting the DA further, ActionSA proposed that the parties sign an agreement that they will not negotiate co-governing with the ANC and the EFF in future.

The final hijacking of the DA project is expected to come during the election of the official public face and leader of the multi-party charter.

FF Plus leader Dr Pieter Groenewalds is on record as saying South Africa was not yet ready for a white president.

This consideration immediately takes DA leader John Steenhuisen out of the race. ActionSA founder Herman Mashaba and IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa are the front runners for this job.

Independent chairperson William Gumede, who is guiding the parties as they navigate their political differences and egos, has warned the parties to put the interest of the country ahead of petty disagreements.

By the end of day one, the parties had come up with an eight-point plan to underpin their campaigns ahead of the 2024 elections:

1. Growing the economy and creating jobs.

2. Ending loadshedding and achieving energy security.

3. Achieving law and order that combats crime, corruption and drugs.

4. Ensuring quality education that delivers opportunities for all.

5. Delivering basic services to all through high-quality infrastructure.

6. Building a professional public service that delivers to all and ending cadre deployment.

7. Ensuring quality healthcare for all within a caring healthcare system.

8. Building a social relief framework for South African households living in poverty.

After the first day the DA, which has the biggest share of the vote in the group, did not appear to be the leader of the group.

 

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