With the Electoral Commission’s public suggestion this week that next year’s polls should be as close to May as possible, we may now be less than seven months away from an incredibly contentious election. While the ANC has already started campaigning through its ‘Manifesto Review’ tour, opposition parties are now adjusting how they work together. Chief among these are the parties who have joined the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, led (sort of) by the DA. But other groups are also drawing closer together.
In the past few weeks, there have been several significant developments around opposition parties who are planning to work together.
First, the ACDP announced it had decided to join the coalition pact. This was widely expected, considering it has been involved in coalition agreements with other Multi-Party Charter members for many years (it was first part of a DA-led coalition in Cape Town in 2006).
Second, there have been what may be choreographed comments by several political leaders, some of whom went to Germany together to study coalition arrangements there.
After that trip, DA leader John Steenhuisen suggested in the Sunday Times that, “This insight – that coalitions are only stable and effective when they are not fragmented and instead built around a single, strong anchor party – is confirmed by our experience back home.”
He continued, “Coalitions in South Africa have only struggled when they are fragmented…”
Importantly, Steenhuisen remained consistent in not naming the DA (or himself) as the leader of the coalition, but suggested it would play the role of “anchor”.
Velenkosini Hlabisa
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