Build One SA leader Mmusi Maimane has not completely shut the door on the possibility of joining the multiparty charter, saying he wants an opportunity to find the missing voter.
Maimane was spotted on a coalition study trip to Germany with the majority of the multiparty charter parties — DA, ActionSA, FF Plus, IFP and recently joined ACDP — and was accused of cosying up to the pre-election pact formation, which he has not denied.
“When they frame the discussion as saying you have to get 50 + 1% of the vote, the current parties in the charter don’t get to that figure. We have to grow and find voters who are not voting for the parties that are in the charter.
“It makes it a very easy discussion to say, let me take the opportunity to go and find the missing voter we need, and engage further. I’m already engaged in discussions with other parties that say, rather than creating a charter, how do we put together an offering on the ballot that actually helps people to participate in the democracy?
“It is important that we are not shut out to talking, these are fellow parties — I speak to just about all political parties in the country. There are parties which are not part of the charter that I engage with, there is civil society as well.
Maimane acknowledged the idea of forming a pre-election pact among parties who have their sights set on unseating the ruling party, however, says it is only a model.
“The charter is a model, but it is not the only model. There can be another model where parties say let's come together, and have one party on the ballot — there’s also that option, which can be explored, and there may be many others.
The highlight was meeting with counterparts who have been in the chancellery, parliament and the provincial legislatures, who have dealt with governance issues. There is no point in forming any kind of coalition if it doesn’t solve governance issues.
— Build One SA leader Mmusi Maimane
“Bosa is going out, amassing civil society as well. We are not enemies with the charter parties, I just feel it is too early to associate. We need the chance to go out and build with South Africans, who the current electoral system is not speaking to.”
The former DA leader told TimesLIVE premium that he tagged along on the trip to Germany with the understanding that there is a need to solve governance issues in the country.
“The highlight was meeting with counterparts who have been in the chancellery, parliament and the provincial legislatures, who have dealt with governance issues.
“There is no point in forming any kind of coalition if it doesn’t solve governance issues. I’m not part of the moonshot charter, I came to understand governance and how it is either helped or undermined by coalitions.”
Maimane believes that drafting a clear programme of action should precede an alliance of principles and values.
“Citizens should know what they are voting for and what their voting gets. This will be important when thinking about who should be the presidential candidate, because you can look and say here are the plans, tabled annually, where there is a clear plan of action.”
Sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the parties spent a week on a study tour to equip them with the necessary know-how and to give them the practical experience they need to execute a power grab.
An important lesson the Bosa leader gained from the trip was how to build and strengthen a coalition government.
“You have to develop high levels of trust, because coalitions depend on trust — they are destroyed by lack of trust. One of the things that undermines trust in our country is corruption — once you have corruption the interest of citizens is not prioritised, therefore there will be no trust.
“Leadership is important when it comes to dispute resolution mechanisms. It’s about understanding that there needs to be regular interaction among coalition partners, so that they are not just meeting when there’s a conflict, but they meet regularly.
“Along with that, as part of your programme of delivery, showing how each party can show some wings — because that’s what part of the investment into the coalition means. Coalition agreements are not binding, because they cannot be written in law — trust, a programme, strong relationships and showing wins are the important part.”
Maimane lamented a lack communication as one of coalitions’ biggest downfalls.
“It’s important that you are meet regularly, online and offline. In other words, meet and talk to the South African public, but also meet offline so that you can discuss things. It’s like any partnership, it has to have a space where it can discuss things that don’t need to engage the public — and it must also be able to communicate to the public what the right things are.
“If all coalition partners use the media to mobilise their constituencies, whether for or against the coalition — you lose trust, not only between the partners, but also public trust is lost. The public will ask, can’t you guys solve your issues.”
The Bosa leader admitted that in making coalitions work, political interest should not trump public interest.
“Election results determine proportionality, their system works well. One of the important lessons is that Germany has built normality around coalitions, you almost always create in society a culture of power sharing and allocation of respective roles post those coalition agreements.
“With the German government, there is an upholding of the rule of law and constitutional provisions that go towards the competence of each skilled government. There is very competent, non-partisan, bureaucracy. Our problem is that we have a factionalised government, that lies on the deployment of the current ANC government.
“When you have a new government coming on board, you can foresee problems where people feel like they can’t serve in a new administration, whereas it must become normal for there to be a new minister who may not even come from the party you support.
“We need to build a competent government, which is the first thing I would do in a 100-day plan. The people battle to survive the headwinds of change in a coalition.”
Maimane told TimesLIVE Premium that despite going on the trip to observe and take in knowledge, the German lived experience and political landscape had its own nuances to take note of.
We need to get parties to discuss more, without necessarily having to be in a formal coalition with each other. There must be a sense of shared national interest. It must be common cause that SA’s interests must trump politics.
— Mmusi Maimane
“There are a couple of things that are unique to Germany, such as not having as many parties as we have. Second, the electorate determines what the numbers look like and can agree on a programmatic action and in many ways, the intraparty relations on who can govern. There isn’t a set formula. It has to do with values but also parties who get along with each other — they govern easier. Once they lack intraparty relations, it makes it harder to govern.
“We need to get parties to discuss more, without necessarily having to be in a formal coalition with each other. There must be a sense of shared national interest. It must be common cause that SA’s interests must trump politics.”
Despite political differences and belonging to different political homes, Maimane said it was important to observe issues of national interest that parties could agree on.
“The mistake we make, is that the president must have the power to call the opposition and say, guys on this one, we must all agree because it’s about SA. If it comes from the constitution, we must agree on it. On some we can play party politics, but on some items we must just agree. What that does is teach people that being in political opposition or a different party, does not make you an enemy. You just highlight the national objective.”
The Bosa leader revealed that their series of meetings and workshops included extensive dialogue on global issues.
“We spoke about issues like climate change, security, immigration, safety of citizens. It would be remiss of us to walk away without having an articulation of some of the key issues — what our SA 2034 vision is, an agreement on a way forward that has a programmatic plan, then you are able to show people that leadership works. If you don’t have that plan then everything ends up becoming a negotiation, and that’s a challenge”
Maimane said he envisioned a developed political and electoral system that is able to hold parties to account.
“Where we can say to parties, you promised X in your programme, and the citizens do that. We have got to show South Africans after 2024 that we must normalise change. We mustn’t fear change, ANC voters must not fear change. It’s part of the process.
“We must be willing to engage and you’ve got to be willing to sit down with voters. There must come a day where I must be willing to speak to IFP voters and say, this is the agreement that we’ve made — where are we and how can we proceed? Then you will help build the sort of trust that citizens want to see. Once people know that you are not just self-interested, then they will know that you can provide leadership to society in total.”
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