DA leader John Steenhuisen says the national convention to be held by a group of opposition political parties in August will be the most important political conversation to take place in SA since the transition to democracy.
He said the parties — the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, United Independent Movement and Spectrum National Party — had established sufficient common ground to hold the convention on August 16-17 ahead of the provincial and national elections in 2024, “at the same venue [in Kempton Park] that hosted the Codesa negotiations”.
The Convention for a Democratic SA (Codesa) was a series of meetings between different political groups in SA in 1991 and 1992 that effectively led to the first democratic election on April 27 1994.
“By showing that SA can be rescued if we have the courage to stand together, the pact can energise the 14-million voters who are not registered to do so, and give the 13-million people who are registered but failed to vote in 2021 a new reason to vote,” Steenhuisen said on Tuesday.
There are 26-million registered voters in SA, according to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
Steenhuisen said a successful convention would provide the certainty and stability that would be “so crucial to forming a pact the government in 2024 can deliver”.
Among other things, the national convention will negotiate key elements of a post-2024 government upfront, “so that we don’t have to rush to meet the two-week deadline after the election”.
“If all goes well, the pact will emerge from the convention with clearly defined values and principles, a common minimum programme of action and a formula that will show SA what a pact cabinet could look like,” he added.
The pact needs a national majority of 50% plus one to succeed. “The six parties that will be around the table collectively achieved about 35% of the vote in 2021. Of this share, the DA got 21%,” Steenhuisen said.
The convention comes as several polls, including one by the ANC itself, point to the governing party losing its electoral majority in 2024 amid operational, administrative and financial problems.
The ANC has taken a hard line against the so-called moonshot pact, which excludes the EFF, saying the proposed arrangement is fundamentally opposed to transformation.
The DA is racing to get smaller parties and possible newcomers to band together to topple the ANC, which is facing huge electoral losses for the first time since 1994.
Steenhuisen said forming a united opposition pact ahead of 2024’s elections “offers us the very best chance to unseat the ANC, keep the EFF out of power and form a stable new government to rescue SA”.
“This moonshot pact would bring together different parties — excluding the ANC, EFF and their proxies — to ensure that the opposition focuses our collective energies on defeating the ANC, rather than on attacking each other,” he said.
The 2024 elections come as the country is struggling with economic stagnation that has been worsened by persistent load-shedding, high unemployment, poverty, inequality and systemic corruption.
At by-elections last week, the DA retained four seats and registered electoral growth in Mpumalanga (17%), Cape Town (12%), Tshwane (3%) and eThekwini (17%).
“If all members of the pact focus on winning over former ANC supporters and getting disillusioned voters to register and turn out in large numbers, we can get to 50% and form a new government to rescue SA,” Steenhuisen said.
He called on voters to turn their backs on opposition parties that were not part of the pact. “Any political leader who refuses to put the needs of SA ahead the narrow interests of their party does not deserve your vote,” he said.
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