As campaigning for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections intensify, opposition parties, including smaller and newly formed ones are entering into all sorts of alliances. The latest to announce a pre-election pact is former DA Leader Mmusi Maimane who has since founded his own Build One South Africa.
Maimane announced during a media briefing held outside the IEC headquarters in Centurion on Wednesday that seven smaller formations including civic organisations will campaign for his party ahead of the upcoming elections.
Leaders of Lentswe La Batho, Abantu Integrity Movement, Moretele Independent Civic Organization, New Horizon Movement, Movement of the People, and African Change Academy, all relatively unknown, entered into an agreement Maimane which he said will bolster his party’s chances.
BOSA said the deal will also be key for the party during the next local government elections scheduled for 2026.
“The BOSA Alliance is not restricted to this year’s National and Provincial Elections. The Alliance is founded with the next Local Government Elections in 2026 in mind. Parties to the alliance – who choose to run in their regions in 2026 – will have the benefit of BOSA campaigning for their organisations in that election,” said Bosa in the announcement.
Earlier in the week, Economic Liberators Forum South Africa led by Hulisani Mani announced it had entered into a deal with a pressure group purporting to represent the interest of traditional leaders.
Former Tshwane Mayor Abel Tau also recently joined forces with Forum 4 Service Delivery, which after a good start during the 2016 local government elections has failed to grow its support and could not secure a parliamentary seat when it contested in the 2019 general elections.
The deal-making is based on a notion that the ANC will not be able to secure outright majority, particularly in Gauteng which the smaller parties believe would present them with an opportunity to form a government without the liberation movement.
The ANC and the EFF, the biggest and third largest parties in parliament, have not entered into any pre-election deals and while the red berets have indicated a willingness to work with like-minded organsitions after the elections, the liberation movement has vowed to surprise critics with a resounding victory.
On Tuesday the party’s Gauteng provincial secretary TK Nciza warned opposition parties that their hopes of taking over Gauteng would be dashed. Nciza said the opposition had offered little to nothing to voters beyond criticism of the ruling party.
“Everyone is campaigning on the basis that they must remove the ANC, not campaigning on the basis of what is it they can do for our people. That on its own is a weakness from their side but I don’t think they’ve picked it up, that they’ve been doing the same thing for the past thirty years,” he said of opposition campaign messaging.
Nciza said the ANC will retain the province on the basis of what he believes to be a good track record in government.
“The African National Congress is not campaigning against any other organisation but it tells people what it is going to do, it tells people what it has done, it tells people how it is going to improve their lives,” he said.
In the Western Cape, the Patriotic Alliance is leading efforts to oust the DA and recently its leader Gayton Mckensie announced a deal with several regional entities aimed at galvanizing support ahead of the May 29 election.
Maimane reiterated his rejection of the DA led Multi-Party Charter accusing his former party of dividing the country along racial lines.
“You can’t say let’s build one South Africa and then go and mobilise people on the basis of being Afrikaner, Afrikaner South Africans are important and are part of this country. Once you bring that division you going to have to say there must be this party for Zulus, another for Batswana, you know you give rise to tribalism as well,” he said.
