South Africa’s record number of political parties which share ideologies, policies and outlooks should form pre-election coalitions and fight elections together as one entity, as ideologically like-minded parties did in France during the recent legislative elections.
Most of South Africa’s parties share the same policies, ideologies, slogans and even colours, which rarely can be distinguished from one another, beyond having different leaders. The logos of many parties are even the same. Despite the many parties, voters have little choice, as parties are all the same but in name. This is one of the reasons so many parties get few votes in elections, why many South Africans stay away from voting and say opposition parties offer little to them.
Many parties are formed to be a salary source for the founders. Most South African party leaders are ego-driven – with an exaggerated sense of self, many vainly assuming they would be president
Many of these parties should not be parties at all; they should be NGOs, pressure groups or lobbies. Many parties are formed to be a salary source for the founders. Most South African party leaders are ego-driven — with an exaggerated sense of self, many vainly assuming they would be president. Instead of joining existing parties, they form their own parties where they can be kings without challenge, running parties as personal fiefdoms.
In South Africa's seminal May 29 general elections almost 10-million registered voters did not vote; and 14-million who are eligible to vote did not register. Only 16-million citizens voted. More than 24-million did not, or they boycotted the vote. This despite the record number of parties and leaders. This means the parties and leaders are not fit for purpose for the electorate.
South Africa desperately needs a consolidation of parties — many should ideally close down, fold into bigger parties or have smaller parties merge. If a consolidation of parties is not the route taken, then parties should, as in France, form coalitions whereby they almost operate as one but retain their individual identity.
In France, parties with similar ideological outlooks, constituencies and policies combined before the elections, participating under joint umbrellas as if they were one party. French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections in June after he was defeated by the far-right National Rally (RN) led by Marine Le Pen, when France voted for the European Parliament. Macron has three years remaining in his presidential term.
The New Popular Front (NFP) was formed three weeks before Macron called snap elections, and brought together a coalition of socialists, greens, and the hard-left, France Unbowed, that were previously deeply divided. The NFP includes former France Socialist president François Hollande, who made an unexpected comeback by winning a seat in his home town.
The NFP won the largest number of seats, 188, however this was not enough to form a government on its own. A party or coalition needs 289 seats to control the 577-seat National Assembly. The NFP was formed to keep the far right from power, which was achieved in the elections.
During the elections, more than 200 candidates from the left and centre withdrew from the second round of legislative elections, allowing rivals with a better chance of winning to take on the ultra-right in the elections.
The Macron-led Ensemble, a coalition of liberal and centrist parties which includes Renaissance, Democratic Movement and Agir, came second, winning 161 seats. The RN and its allies, won 142 seats, coming third. It is unprecedented in France’s modern history to have a hung parliament, with no party having a governing majority.
Macron, with a fractured parliament, now has to form a centre-left coalition government and may have to offer the prime minister position to the NFP. The current prime minister Gabriel Attal has offered to resign, though Macron has asked him to stay for now to ensure stability with weeks before the Paris Olympics.
South Africa’s 11-party Multiparty Charter (MPC), or “moonshot pact”, was meant to bring together centrist, pro-constitution, pro-business, pragmatic and racially inclusive parties as a coalition to fight the May 29 election. Though parties in the MPC stood as stand-alone parties in the elections, the dream was that over time it would evolve, with the parties standing as one platform rather than stand-alone parties.
After the election, opposition parties outside the government of national unity (GNU) must collaborate to hold the GNU accountable. The EFF, MK Party, African Transformation Movement and others have formed the Progressive Caucus as a grouping of opposition parties to oppose the GNU. They hold 30% of the parliamentary seats. The parties in the Progressive Caucus are mostly left populist. There is little point in them operating as separate parties.
Pro-constitution, pro-business and nonracial opposition parties in the GNU must also co-operate, voting together tactically. ActionSA, a former member of the MPC, declined to join the GNU, deciding to stick to the MPC’s original principle of not partnering with the ANC and would rather go into opposition. Constitution-supporting former MPC parties who decided not to join the GNU, such as ActionSA, Build South Africa and the African Christian Democratic Party, must collaborate in opposition — and even combine over time as one party.
• William Gumede is associate professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and author of South Africa in BRICS (Tafelberg)
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