The year 2019 saw a rise in political parties, some of which soared and some which failed  before they could utter the word “vote”. 

While there were some surprises there was also the Good [party] that people never saw coming.

Here is a look at some of the political moments this year:

Failed parties

BLF

This year marked the end of an era for BLF after it was officially deregistered as a political party for not allowing whites to join.

This after the electoral court rejected its application to appeal its deregistration, which was brought in June.

The Electoral Commission found the registration of the movement as a political party was “unlawful” and “invalid”, meaning  it will not be able to contest any election in SA and that it might have to be more inclusive to register as a political party.

However, the movement said it may consider amending its constitution to accommodate white people as members, as long as they  agreed with its pro-black policies.

ACM

Another party that failed in 2019 because it was not able to get enough votes to secure a seat was Hlaudi Motsoeneng's African Content Movement.

Motsoeneng's movement garnered only 2,379 voters after 65% of the national votes had been captured at the Results Operations Centre in Pretoria in May.

It failed to attain even 1% of the votes as parties need to get about 35,000 votes to qualify for a seat in parliament.

Soaring high

FF+

Out of the 500 political parties that contested in this years' elections, the success of the Afrikaans-speaking VF Plus party, also known as Freedom Front Plus or FF+, was one that took people by surprise.

Not did this party double its 2014 support, but this year saw it winning more than 237,000 votes after 59% of the vote had been counted.

Added to that, the party also saw an influx of new members and supporters in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and North West.

The Good party

Good party leader Patricia de Lille pulled a first in SA politics when she become the only non-ANC MP in the sixth democratic parliament to serve in the cabinet, which President Cyril Ramaphosa reduced from 36 ministers to 28.

Not only did she secure the title of public works minister but her party also received two seats in the National Assembly, despite being less than 12 months old at the time.