The 2024 elections might see the DA do worst than ever before under the leadership of John Steenhuisen. He wouldn’t be completely and solely to blame for this, but the DA has collectively had the worst elections strategy.
The DA's political immaturity will cost them the one and maybe only opportunity to enter the Union Buildings. Even their own MPC sees that the DA cannot be the pioneering force of the coalition. Nonetheless the Multi-Party Charter (MPC) remains a good move for the DA. The MPC should take the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal with no real difficulty.
Let’s look at the their strategy numerically. Best case scenario the DA gets 20% and the MPC cumulatively gets 32%. This still isn't anywhere near enough to do anything. Then they have this boastfully immature policy. That is both anti-EFF and anti-ANC. Worst case scenario EFF gets 15% and the ANC gets 40%.
The policy of MPC forces ‘black’ populated parties to unite. Thus giving the ANC another opportunity to stay at the helm of our country for another five years. Which undermines the very reason they were incepted. Then they want to tell us about “Doomsday”. A doomsday that could be avoided by the maturity of opposition benches.
The DA-led agenda clearly seeks to further fragment the already scattered vote of the electorate. We can agree that the ideology of the two biggest opposition parties are completely different. Nonetheless it’s indisputable that both have very beneficial gains for the country at large. This is why I’m urging Dr Corne Mulder to take up the role of leading the MPC to a more realistic position.
The same goes for General Bantu Holomisa. General Holomisa and Dr Mulder have to be the Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer of the 2024 elections. They need to bring the leftist and right wing together for the greater good of our country. Otherwise let us prepare ourselves for another five years of load shedding and corruption under Cupcake.
At this point we can all agree that this DA backed anti-EFF agenda doesn’t make sense. We all know that when they are in parliament electing a president. Deals will have to be made, because a decision will have to be reached.
Now this facade they playing right now shows us their lack of transparency. Why lie to the voters? When it is public knowledge that nobody is likely to obtain a majority. I agree with the DA there are many things the EFF can be critiqued on.
Namely their negotiating skills, from what we’ve seen they are making it extremely difficult to reach an agreement. With all that being said, the MPC is still numerically useless. Nonetheless they have started a great culture of bringing parties together. To table and encourage collaboration for the greater good of our nation. That is the one valuable thing all parties could learn from them.
Ntsika Mzananda serves as the National Focal Points person for the Socio-Economic Development Youth Policy Committee at the South African Institute of International Affairs. He is also the Provincial Director for Project YouthSA in the Eastern Cape.
The Star