Moonshot pact: Holomisa criticises Steenhuisen's 'big brother mentality'

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa is the latest to weigh in on John Steenhuisen's “moonshot pact” coalition partnership, saying it's not too late for the DA leader to reconsider his “big brother mentality”. 

Speaking at his party’s federal congress at the weekend, Steenhuisen announced the DA would form a pre-election “moonshot pact” with like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and movements “to keep the EFF out” and prepare the ground for a possible national opposition coalition government.

Holomisa said the DA should not use other parties as pawns, cherry-picking those with which it wished to form an alliance, while rejecting others. 

He said opposition leaders had in June 2022 resolved to explore the possibility of a convention to turn around the situation in South Africa.

“We also resolved to identify several neutral institutions with the capacity to host such an event who might be willing to sit down to discuss this endeavour to come up with solutions to the conundrum that is South Africa’s future, with a view to come up with an alternative to the corrupt establishment,” Holomisa said.

Various parties visited Denmark and Germany on benchmark trips to better understand how coalitions in those countries worked, he added.

“The UDM ... will continue to engage with all role players in terms of forming coalitions,” Holomisa said.

Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane said his party had not been approached about the pact.

“We at BOSA believe we are uniquely positioned to play a leading role in our political landscape in the future, as builders, not political naysayers. And we intend to do so while staying close to our values,” said Maimane. 

“We believe in serving the country as constructively as possible and its citizens as faithfully as we can. We are aware the country is crying out for harmony and a political leadership that will serve, not fight. 

“We need to restate our commitment to our values; we will only consider coalition agreements with parties who share our values and have no intention of entering into agreements with parties who mobilise on the basis of identity, be it race, language, culture or religion.”