Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says a coalition of opposition parties will ensure that the African National Congress (ANC) is pushed out of government.
Steenhuisen was addressing over 500 DA members in KwaZulu-Natal who are gathered in Durban to elect the new provincial leadership.
The DA has entered into a working agreement with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in a bid to form a strong opposition.
The two parties are planning to unseat the ANC in the province.
Steenhuisen is calling on all opposition to speak with one voice against the ANC.
“Through these dark terrible years of the ANC….and we have seen before what happens, when you move away from your values and principals and become everything to everybody – voters can smell it, voters can see it and they punish parties at the polls. So let us hold true to our values and principles. But I am also happy to announce some good news – over the past week, the moon-shot pact has obviously generated a great deal of excitement and I’m being spontaneously approached by more parties and organisations who are wanting to get on board and join our pact.”
He adds: “I’m particularly grateful to the Leader of the Spectrum National Party, Christopher Klaasen, who has initiated a process to get more local and newly formed parties to join us around the table at the national convention for the moon-shot pact. And it’s starting to look like this convention may become of the biggest developments in SA political history.”
SABC News reporter Jayed Paulse reports on the conference in the video below:
Alternative outside the ANC
Meanwhile, candidates contesting the position of provincial leader, Francois Rodgers and Bongumusa Nhlabathi, say their main priority is to grow support for the DA in KwaZulu-Natal.
These leaders say although the ANC support has declined, people opted to vote for the IFP and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Outgoing provincial leader, Francois Rogers, says they want to give KwaZulu-Natal voters an alternate party to vote for.
“Our aim moving into 2024 is to continue to build our relationship with the IFP. We have a cooperation agreement with the IFP and we are using this time running into the 2024 election to see where we can work together…how we can work together, how we can build a relationship so that ultimately and collectively we can look at offering the residents of KwaZulu-Natal another government rather than the failed ANC government.”
