The Multi-Party Charter (MPC), officially the Multi-Party Charter For South Africa (MPCSA), 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.
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]
At the joint press statement by the six founding parties the coalition government's priorities were laid out as: [2] [3] [4]
The coalition's agreed-upon principles, called "Shared Governing Principles", are: [2] [3] [4]
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.
Name and abbr. | Main ideology | Political position | Leader | Seats | Vote % at the 2019 election | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DA | Democratic Alliance Demokratiese Alliansie | Liberalism (South African) | Centre | John Steenhuisen | 84 / 400 | 20.77% | |
IFP | Inkatha Freedom Party IQembu leNkatha yeNkululeko | Conservatism | Right-wing | Velenkosini Hlabisa | 14 / 400 | 3.38% | |
FF Plus | Freedom Front Plus Vryheidsfront Plus | Afrikaners and Afrikaans-speaking Coloureds interests | Right-wing | Pieter Groenewald | 10 / 400 | 2.38% | |
ACDP | African Christian Democratic Party | Christian right | Centre-right to right-wing | Kenneth Meshoe | 4 / 400 | 0.84% | |
ActionSA | ActionSA [lower-alpha 3] | Classical liberalism | Centre-right | Herman Mashaba | 0 / 400 | ||
UCDP | United Christian Democratic Party | Christian democracy | Centre-right | Modiri Desmond Sehume | 0 / 400 | ||
UIM | United Independent Movement | Christian democracy | Centre-right | Neil de Beer | 0 / 400 | ||
EPP | Ekhethu People's Party | Centre | Mahlubi John Madela | 0 / 400 | |||
SNP | Spectrum National Party | Christopher Claassen | 0 / 400 | ||||
ISANCO | Independent South African National Civic Organisation | Zukile Luyenge | 0 / 400 | ||||
UNP | Unemployed National Party | Prince Nkwana | 0 / 400 |
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]
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]
The Freedom Front Plus is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald.
Kenneth Rasalabe Joseph Meshoe is a South African evangelist, politician, reverend and teacher. He has been serving as the inaugural leader of the African Christian Democratic Party, a Christian democratic political party, since 1993. He became a Member of Parliament in 1994 and has since been re-elected five times. He is one of the longest-serving MPs.
John Henry Steenhuisen is a South African politician who has served as the twentieth leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the interim leader for one year from November 2019. He was chief whip of the official opposition from May 2014 until October 2019.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African Marxist–Leninist and black nationalist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013. Malema is President of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team which serves as the central structure of the party. It is currently the third-largest party in both houses of the Parliament of South Africa. The party is also the official opposition in three of South Africa's nine provincial legislatures.
The 2016 South African municipal elections were held on 3 August 2016, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It was the fifth municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994; municipal elections are held every five years.
General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President, National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on 20 March 2019 that a record number of 48 parties had registered candidates for the national parliamentary election. This is 19 more parties that contested the 2014 national elections. In the provincial legislature elections, the total number of parties registering candidates were:
The 2021 South African municipal elections were held on 1 November 2021, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It is the sixth municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, held every five years. The previous municipal elections were held in 2016. On 21 April 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the elections will be held on Wednesday, 27 October 2021. It had been recommend by Dikgang Moseneke to delay the municipal elections until 2022. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) requested the Constitutional Court to support the date postponement. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supported the date postponement while the Democratic Alliance (DA) was against the postponement of the date. The Constitutional Court dismissed the application to postpone the date until 2022, ruling that they had to take place between 27 October and 1 November. On 9 September 2021, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced that the elections would be held on 1 November.
General elections will be held in South Africa on 29 May 2024 to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces. This will be the seventh general election held under the conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994. The new National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will be elected at the first sitting of each provincial legislature. Since the inaugural post-apartheid election in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has continuously achieved a majority in both chambers of the South African Parliament: the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
Cilliers Brink is a South African politician who is the Mayor of Tshwane, in office since 28 March 2023. A member of the Democratic Alliance, he was the party's Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs from 2020 until 2023 and a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2019 to 2023. He was the party's Shadow Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs between 2019 and 2020.
Randall Williams is a South African politician and attorney who served as the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality from October 2020 until February 2023. Previously, he served as the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Economic Development and Spatial Planning and as the Chairperson of Municipal Appeals Tribunal between 2016 and 2019. Williams is a member of the Democratic Alliance.
ActionSA is a South African political party established by a former mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, soon after he left the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Tania Lynette Campbell is a South African Democratic Alliance politician who served as the Mayor of Ekurhuleni twice, from November 2021 until her removal in a motion of no confidence in October 2022 and again from November 2022 until her removal in a second motion of no confidence in March 2023.
Mpho Louisa Phalatse is a South African medical doctor and politician who was the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. A member of the Democratic Alliance, she served in the position from 22 November 2021 until her ousting in a motion of no-confidence on 26 January 2023. She is the first woman to serve as mayor of the metropolitan municipality, which was established in 2000. She is the first black woman to serve as mayor of the city of Johannesburg and only the second female mayor of the city after Jessie McPherson, who served from 1945 to 1946.
The uMhlathuze Local Municipality council consists of sixty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-four councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-four wards, while the remaining thirty-three are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
Thapelo Amad is a South African politician and imam, and a former mayor of Johannesburg. A member of the Johannesburg City Council, Amad is affiliated with the Al Jama-ah party. On 27 January 2023, he was elected mayor of Johannesburg with the support of the African National Congress (ANC). His election made him the first Muslim to serve as mayor of Johannesburg. He resigned as mayor on 24 April 2023 to avoid being defeated in a motion of no confidence.
Abednigo Vusumuzi Khoza is a South African politician who served as a member of the National Assembly of South Africa from February until October 2023. He previously served in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from May 2014 to February 2023. Khoza was a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters party.
Murunwa Makwarela was a South African politician, genetic engineer, academic and businessman who served as the Mayor of Tshwane, from 28 February 2023 until he was fired by the city manager on 7 March 2023 for being declared insolvent in 2016. Makwarela was reinstated on 9 March 2023 before resigning on 10 March 2023 after it was found that the rehabilitation certificate he produced to be reinstated, was fraudulent. A former member of the Congress of the People, he served as the party's lone councillor in the municipality. Prior to his election as mayor, he was the council speaker, serving as part of a multi-party coalition led by the Democratic Alliance and other parties.
The 2023 South African National Shutdown was a protest held by the political party Economic Freedom Fighters on 20 March 2023, the day before Human Rights Day. The EFF called for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa and an end to load-shedding. The leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, warned businesses countrywide to close their doors or risk being looted by them.