ActionSA had a strong message for party leaders who are part of the Multi-Party Charter (MPC).
The party’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, this week penned a strong missive against parties that go out of the MPC and promise to work with the ANC.
In a confidential letter to the signatories of the MPC declaration, Beaumont says there have been growing incidents of various public utterances made by parties in the MPC expressing their willingness to consider governance arrangements with the ANC after the elections.
On the back of some of the recent polls which have indicated a sharp decline of the ANC, some parties, including the DA, have been indirectly associated with a possible ANC working arrangements after the upcoming elections.
“ActionSA has noted these utterances and raised an official objection within the process of the MPC given that Section 7(1)(2) of our signed charter agreement expressly prohibits any party to entertain any working arrangement or governing arrangements with the ANC.
“The objection raised by the ActionSA against these utterances has reminded our partners that ActionSA only became a signatory of the MPC on the condition that such declaration be made by all parties so that we can assure South Africans no vote for one of our parties could ever be used to keep the ANC in government,” Beaumont says.
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 ANC , and the recent rise of the EFF in the 2024 South African general election, and present a united front against them.
The charter is made up of ActionSA, DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), United Independent Movement (UIM), Spectrum National Party (SNP), and Independent South African National Civic Organisation (ISANCO) and ACDP.
ActionSA says it will be confusing for South Africans to hear parties belonging to the charter aligning themselves with the ANC following their promise to live by the declaration of the charter. The party wants members to commit to the declaration to not work with the ANC or the EFF.
“ActionSA will not tolerate any ambiguity on the possible question of working arrangements with the ANC, even if they arise because of our partners rather than from any remarks attributed to ActionSA.
“Structures are requested to guide ActionSA volunteers towards the provision of the requisite assurances in their direct voter contact programmes, that we will never govern with the ANC,” he said.
Siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za