By Gaye Davis
The Democratic Alliance plans to re-launch itself this weekend in a bid to make the party attractive to the thousands of South Africans it believes share its values, but don't vote for the party. And in a fundamental shift, the party aims to market itself no longer as feisty opposition, but as a party ready to govern the country from 2014.
Briefing journalists at parliament on Monday, DA leader Helen Zille said Saturday's re-launch at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg would be "the most significant event" in the party's history.
She would not give details of what it would entail, but said it was the culmination of "an internal process of self-examination" and an assessment of how the DA presented itself and how it was perceived by voters, given the effects of "a divided past".
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The DA had long been aware that wooing black voters was the only way to increase its share of the vote, but had struggled to get its message heard.
"The DA has significant potential among voters who share our values but who have not historically supported us," Zille said.
New research commissioned by the party showed voters of all races were looking for a political re-alignment, where parties and people sharing the same values came together to forge an open society with equal opportunities, "as opposed to a closed, patronage-driven society under the ANC".
"We are determined to do whatever possible to overcome these barriers, transcend race and enable all South Africans who share our values to give us their support," Zille said.
The party will fight elections next year with an important trump card: its track record in governing Cape Town since the 2006 local government elections saw the ANC forced to make way for a DA-led multi-party coalition.
Other governing coalitions were forged in smaller cities and towns in the Western Cape.
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