THE number of political parties that are rejecting the ANC to go into coalition government continues to grow.
The DA on Sunday joined the list following its Federal Council’s meeting, with party leader John Steenhuisen saying it the recent local government elections have ushered in an exciting time for the country and this has shown that the party can take power from the ANC across the country.
“This bodes incredibly well for 2024 which is literally 900 days away so the large part of the party’s focus is to fine-tuning the machine getting it ready looking at where we didn’t do well and what we can do to fix that and getting us back already for that crucial and critical watershed elections,” Steenhuisen said.
Going into the elections, the DA had expressed willingness to go into a coalition but completely ruled out going into bed with the EFF with whom it worked to wrestle power from Joburg city and Tshwane in the 2016 elections.
But after the dismal performance of the ANC which for the first time since the dawn of democracy has failed to breach the 50% mark, the DA is now singing a different tune. The party now believes that with this performance, the party has been presented with an opportunity to what he called to throw out the yoke of ANC dominance.
Steenhuisen said the elections has shown that the DA was the only alternative party to the ANC with a national footprint which makes the real kingmakers across the country. He added the Federal Council has therefore resolved to go into coalition which would bring stability in municipalities and not disrupt service delivery.
“And we recommitted ourselves to doing what we can to weaken the ANC over the next three years ahead of the 2024 elections so that we can bring them below the 50% in those elections.
“To that end with an eye on the 2024 elections, we will not be entering into coalition agreement with the EFF and the ANC or any other party that doesn’t subscribe to constitutionalism, the rule of law, a social market economy, and a capable state,” said Steenhuisen.
This is a blow to the ANC which also has to far been rejected by the IFP which accused it of dishonesty in the past. New political rookies ActionSA has also ruled it out outright.
