Cape Town — Action SA leader Herman Mashaba has called on the Democratic Alliance (DA) to engage other political opposition parties as equal partners over its planned “moonshot pact”.
While congratulating Steenhuisen on his re-election as DA leader on Sunday, Mashaba warned him not to make the formation of a united opposition about the DA or his leadership.
Speaking during his acceptance speech over the weekend, Steenhuisen said the DA would initiate a process to form a “moonshot pact” with like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and civic movements to stop an ANC-EFF coalition from running the country.
“[The DA] will immediately initiate a process to form a pre-election moonshot pact with like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and the civic movements to defeat the ANC, to keep the EFF out,” he said.
But Mashaba said for a “grand coalition” against the ANC to succeed, coalition partners had to approach discussions in a spirit of mutual respect and humility.
He said all parties involved should be equals.
“ActionSA has long maintained that to #FixSouthAfrica we cannot partner with those who broke it in the first place. Instead, we need to unite those that believe in unseating the ANC behind a collective effort to do so. This is the only way we can build an inclusive and prosperous future for South Africa,” Mashaba said.
ActionSA congratulates John Steenhuisen on his re-election as the leader of the Democratic Alliance at their elective conference held this past weekend.https://t.co/GOYKuaIykq
— ActionSA (@Action4SA) April 3, 2023
He added: “For a ‘grand coalition’ against the ANC to succeed in forming a stable government, coalition partners must approach these discussions in a spirit of mutual respect and humility. We offer this as unsolicited advice to Mr Steenhuisen and urge him not to make this important project about the DA or his leadership.
“Ultimately, we would remind Mr Steenhuisen that the voters will have their say next year, and this will determine the proportionality of representation in such a coalition, and any considerations of leadership. These are the kind of political questions that have the ability to derail this venture and must be avoided at all costs.
“We thus urge the DA to engage as equal partners and focus on building a strong and united coalition platform that paves the way for stable and effective government that turns around the legacy of ANC failure and corruption,” Mashaba said.
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Picture: Twitter/ @Action4SA
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
