Cape Town - Performer Pieter-Dirk Uys launched a political “movement” on Friday morning to unite those seeking an alternative democracy in the country.
Speaking as a citizen, not as a satirist, he said South Africa's Democratic National Alternative (SA-Dna) was a concept he wanted smaller political parties to adopt and take forward with their own ideas.
“We have a very strong government, a strong ruling party, and in theatrical terms they are the most successful show on the block. It is a political soap opera with a democratically elected star, doing a show called ANC's Got Talent.”
He was addressing journalists on-stage at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town.
Uys said the movement was not about disrespecting the African National Congress or its main opposition, the Democratic Alliance.
“I respect them enormously... They are my scriptwriters and I will never demean them,” he said.
The goal was to support freedom of choice running up to the 2014 general elections, the first elections to include youth not born during the apartheid years.
The SA-Dna was a title of a “new show” he was launching for smaller parties, which addressed very different but important issues.
These parties included the DA, Independent Democrats, Freedom Front Plus, Congress of the People, Inkatha Freedom Party, African Christian Democratic Party, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and political platform Agang.
“Democracy is an orgy of opinions. The more opinions we have, the stronger our democracy. The more we disagree with each other, the healthier our democracy,” he said.
The youth were a focus because they had no sentiment about the struggle and no commitment to vote for a former liberation movement. They simply wanted what democracy promised.
“Things aren't easy. But then, democracy has never been easy. Democracy is touched by human hands. Everyone's fingerprints are on the silver chalice of freedom, so it's never going to be perfect, but it's the closest we have to the imperfect-perfect way of running the country.”
Many reporters seemed flummoxed by what exactly was being launched and asked Uys to clarify if he was starting a political party or becoming a politician.
He replied: “This is a title, a name, a movement; it's not up to me to decide what it is. I don't want to speak on behalf of any political leader or any party.”
His goal was for parties to present ideas which might make it more possible for democracy to succeed.
“The show is not up to me. If they (parties) find that this title helps them to (get) a huge, uncommitted voter nation out there, let them use it. It is there for the use of the future,” he said.
“I am not going to do rallies, I am not going to do speeches, I am not here as a politician, I'm not here as a satirist, I am here as a citizen.”
He said he had not yet approached any parties with his concept. - Sapa