Cape Town - DA leader John Steenhuisen’s “pre-election Moonshot Pact” with like-minded political parties for a coalition government for the 2024 general election has received mixed reaction from the organisations.
On Sunday, Steenhuisen said during his re-election victory speech that the official opposition party would initiate a process to form a pre-election Moonshot Pact to defeat the ANC, to keep the EFF out of the government and to inaugurate a new national opposition coalition government.
“The Pact’s purpose will also be to sit around the table to agree on rules of engagement that will enable different organisations to retain their own identities while bringing an end to the petty squabbles and division that only benefits the ANC,” he said during his re-election.
Steenhuisen had also said the leaders of like-minded opposition parties would soon receive a letter from his office asking whether they were prepared to join the process of forming the Moonshot Pact.
In a letter to Steenhuisen, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said opposition leaders had in June 2022 resolved to explore the possibility for a convention to turn around the situation of South Africa.
“We had also resolved to identify several neutral institutions with the capacity to host such an event who might be willing to sit down to discuss this endeavour to come up with solutions to the conundrum that is South Africa’s future with a view to come up with an alternative to the corrupt establishment,” Holomisa said.
He also said various parties had visited Denmark and Germany on benchmark trips to better understand how coalitions in those countries worked.
“The United Democratic Movement would therefore ask the Democratic Alliance not to use other parties as pawns and cherry pick those with whom they wish to form an alliance with and reject others.
“The UDM advises that it is not too late for the DA to reconsider its big brother mentality, but it should be advised that the UDM will continue to engage with all role players in terms of forming coalitions,” Holomisa said.
ACDP deputy president Wayne Thring said his party noted Steenhuisen’s call a "pre-election Moonshot Pact”.
Thring said the ACDP had been open and consistent regarding its position on coalition agreements.
“We will not enter into any 2024 national election coalition agreements prior to the elections itself,” he said.
Thring also said Holomisa had on March 15, 2023 hosted a meeting of opposition parties with the purpose of these parties putting together a framework to save South Africa from the ANC.
“The DA was present at this meeting, and it appears that they now seek to take this initiative from General Holomisa.
“Mr Steenhuisen should have taken a leaf from the General's book by consulting party leaders first, thereby bringing them into his confidence. “The General also did not announce a coalition pact from his elective conference.”
Thring said it was the ACDP's view that in any coalition agreement there were negotiations about terms and conditions, structures, meetings, strategies and so on.
“No one party can assume to have the monopoly on all of these,” he said.
Thring also warned about dangers of a coalition pact where one party positioned itself as superior to others.
“Any opposition party "Moonshot" political process, that fails to be inclusive and fails to properly consult and where one single party positions itself as superior to others, will be left hanging in space.”
The talk about “pre-election Moonshot pact” comes after the DA earlier this month announced that it had published notices in the government gazette indicating its intention to introduce bills aimed at stabilising coalition governments.
In a statement, DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said they were submitting the bills to prepare Parliament for the possibility of local, provincial and national coalition governments.
“It is critical that Parliament is proactive in creating a legislative framework that would assist with governance stability and reliable service delivery,” she said.
The DA published the notice for the introduction of the Nineteenth Constitutional Amendment Bill on March 24 and the Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill on March 27.
Cape Times