ANC 'not deterred or intimidated' by multiparty charter, says Mbalula

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the ruling party is not intimidated or deterred by the multiparty charter for South Africa. 

The multiparty charter consists of the DA, IFP, FF Plus, ActionSA, United Independent Movement, Spectrum National Party and Independent South African National Civic Organisation.

Its aim, among other things, is to topple the ANC and keep the EFF out of a possible national opposition coalition government after next year's national elections.

“We know outright majority win is not a given. We need to work for it and win the confidence of our people.

“There are many challenges our country is facing, but we know we have made some strides as the ANC and we remain focused with regards to that. When it comes to multiparty political agreements, we are just observing and are not deterred or intimidated,” Mbalula told SABC News. 

ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi called the charter a “gang of losers” with a number of policy differences. 

Lesufi, who was at the ANC national working committee (NWC) gathering at the weekend, told media the charter was not sustainable and made up of parties that cannot win an election on their own. 

“The upcoming election should focus on individual parties’ merits rather than a collective gang,” he said. “They have got diverse policy differences, they don't believe literally in everything and you have to take coalition governments in local governments. South Africans should be really scared if they see something of that nature.”

Lesufi questioned why other political parties, such as the UDM, were no longer part of the charter. 

“They cannot win [the] election on their own, so they need to gang up and invite people claiming to be independent only to be exposed they were hiding their political affiliation and being part of a gang of losers.”

TimesLIVE conducted a poll asking readers if the ANC should be worried about the multiparty charter in the 2024 elections. 

The majority of voters (66%) said it should, because it was already struggling to attain a majority, while 22% said politics were unpredictable and 13% said the ANC's renewable project would work in its favour.

TimesLIVE