The six parties wanting to unseat the ANC in the 2024 elections said on Monday that they will consider matters that arose from the national dialogue on coalition, when they convene a national convention to discuss a pre-election agreement later this month.
The parties – the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, United Independent Movement and the Spectrum National Party – will hold a national convention at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park on August 16 and 17.
In a statement, they said there were a number of points arising from the national dialogue on coalitions they believed to be sensible approaches to improving the stability and performance of coalition governments.
The parties also said there were elements of the discussion that produced concerns around which they will need to engage further.
“Not least amongst these concerns is the revelation on Saturday from Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Parks Tau, that a draft bill has already been produced by the Department prior to the convening of the National Dialogue.
“This group of parties will not legitimise a pre-conceived outcome, drafted by ANC aligned officials, for the last days of ANC majority in Parliament to protect its interests in future coalitions.”
The parties said they would consider the matters arising from the national dialogue and would place them on their agenda for further engagement at their national convention.
“This is therefore an appropriate addition to the broader agenda of our national convention where our parties will explore a pre-election agreement to provide South Africans with an alternative in the 2024 elections.”
They said South Africans needed a viable alternative that could both achieve a majority in an election and produce stable and effective coalition governance after the 2024 elections.
The national dialogue discussions saw the ANC and the DA agreeing for the need to set up thresholds for parties to enter into coalitions and number of motions of no confidence to be tabled.
This attracted mixed reaction especially from the smaller opposition parties arguing that the process sought to throttle them.
The ATM staged a walkout, the EFF boycotted the dialogue and the PAC dubbed the dialogue as trying to save the “dying” ANC.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile said the Presidency would commission the drafting of the document that would allow parties to make inputs.
“We agreed that the issue of coalition governments does need the input of other stakeholders. We have been working on factoring in international experiences that will be useful,” Mashatile said.
He also said the dialogue was very successful and that those who participated felt that there was a need for more engagements.
“We have realised that in these two days there may be two or three issues where there were disagreements.
“But most of the issues have a lot of consensus and parties approached this in that spirit,” Mashatile said.
Cape Times