Durban — The Multi-Party Charter (MPC) for South Africa says the emergence of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party is a good omen for the political landscape.
They say it will help shrink the ANC majority and help dislodge it from power after the 2024 general election.
The MPC members, who include Action SA, the DA and IFP, said they had noted the formation and emergence of the MK Party, but said they were not concerned that the party, whose face of the campaign is former president Jacob Zuma, would kill their momentum.
There have been concerns in some quarters over the past weeks about how the MK Party would impact other political parties in their quest to remove the ANC after this year’s elections.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said while they welcomed the MK Party’s arrival and how it was likely to gnaw at the ANC’s support base, they did not view the governing party as their foe.
“Our common foe is not the ANC, our common foe is poverty, unemployment, hunger, deprivation, and malnutrition. These are the enemies for all of us here, said the DA leader.
Wayne Thring of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) noted how the ANC had a history of scoring own goals, adding that the MK Party was one of a number of such mistakes.
“The ANC has a penchant for shooting itself in the foot. This is another own goal where one of its members canvasses for another party while still within the party. What it certainly does is take votes away from the ANC and we wish MK Party well,” said the ACDP leader.
IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa said they believed MK Party was healthy competition, adding that they trust the voters’ capacity to make sound judgements at the polls.
All parties in the MPC agreed that any vote taken away from the ANC was a welcome development and urged voters to register to vote.
Sunday Tribune