Multi-Party Charter

The Multi-Party Charter, officially the Multi-Party Charter For South Africa, is a pre-election agreement in South Africa that aims to challenge both the three-decade rule of the African National Congress (ANC) party, and the recent rise of the controversial Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party in the 2024 South African general election, and present a united front against them.^{[1][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][excessive citations]}

Parties in the charter collectively hold 112 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly.

History

In early 2023, the African National Congress (ANC) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) formed a coalition in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni where the two parties hold MMC (member of the municipal council) positions whilst electing a mayor from a minority party.^[13] In April 2023, noting the prospects of an ANC/EFF national coalition, the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen called for "like-minded" parties to join together to prevent a "doomsday coalition".^[14]

On 17 July 2023, the pre-election agreement called the Multi-Party Charter was signed between the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), ActionSA, United Independent Movement (UIM), Spectrum National Party (SNP), and Independent South African National Civic Organisation (ISANCO). The charter group held 108 out of the 400 seat National Assembly.

On 7 October 2023, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) announced it would be joining the charter, increasing the charter's seat count from 108 to 112 in the 400 seat National Assembly.^[15][16]

On 14 December 2023, the Multi-Party Charter announced that two new parties joined the group: the North West-based United Christian Democratic Party and the Gauteng-based Ekhethu People’s Party.^[17]

The Unemployed National Party (UNP) also became a member of the charter.^[18]

Priorities and principles

At the joint press statement by the six founding parties the coalition government's priorities were laid out as:^[2][3][4]

• Growing the economy
• Creating jobs
• Energy security
• Combatting crime
• Combatting corruption and drugs
• Quality education for all
• High quality infrastructure
• Quality healthcare for all
• Relieving South African households living in poverty

The coalition's agreed-upon principles, called "Shared Governing Principles", are:^[2][3][4]

• The South African constitution, rule of law, and equality before the law
• Decentralising the power of government
• A transparent government
• Zero tolerance towards corruption
• Efficient spending of public money by the government
• An open market economy
• Evidence based policies
• Promoting nonracialism and unity in the country's diversity

Composition

The table below lists the parties in the charter. The charter currently holds a total of 112 seats in the 400 seat National Assembly of South Africa. The vote percentage comes from the parties which contested in the 2019 South African general election.

Disputes

On 16 February 2024, the Multi-Party Charter rejected the application of the Referendum Party (RP), due to the party's singular support for Cape independence.^[19] This is despite the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) party also being in favour of Cape independence.^[20] Analysts allege that this casts doubt on the charter's claimed support for political decentralisation.^[5]

2024 elections

Two of the charter's eleven members failed to garner the minimum number of signatures required by the Independent Electoral Commission and will not be contesting the 2024 South African general election: the Spectrum National Party and the Unemployed National Party.^[21]

See also

• 2024 South African general election

References

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This page was last edited on 9 April 2024, at 23:53