Seven political parties have joined forces with Mmusi Maimane’s Build One South Africa (Bosa) and will campaign for the party in the hotly-contested 2024 national and provincial elections.
These are national and local parties across the country.
The parties include the Mopani Independent Movement (MIM), Lentswe La Batho, Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM), Moretele Independent Civic Organization (MICO), New Horizon Movement, Movement of the People, and African Change Academy (ACA).
Maimane announced this on Wednesday outside the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in Centurion, Pretoria.
“We can today announce the first seven parties who will form part of the Bosa Alliance - a broad collective of political parties and civil society organisations committed to fostering significant political change in South Africa,” he said.
He said this was a move to mount a united challenge in the polls.
The elections will be held on May 29.
“We recognised that no one party can stand alone and represent the will of many vastly diverse communities across the country in Parliament. Rather, it will take smaller groupings of community-based citizens - and community-biased – to all coalesce under one umbrella body.
“With Bosa as the national anchor party at the rational centre of South African politics, we aimed to gather several smaller parties under one banner to mount a united challenge to the current ruling class and bring change to our country,” he said.
Maimane mentioned that the parties agreed not to contest the elections as individual entities, but as a collective under the banner of Bosa.
“Only Bosa will be on the ballot, and all parties will campaign for Bosa and its candidates,” he added.
He said this would ensure that they champion the challenges facing the country.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics