The upcoming 2024 national general elections have sparked the launch of small independent parties seeking to challenge the governing ANC.
However, the motives of their existence have become a subject to more questions than answers.
Are these new parties genuinely focused on benefiting ordinary South Africans? Or are they meant to soothe their founders’ despondence after conflicts with their former parties?
Recent party launches such as Mpho Dagada’s Arise SA, Songezo Zibi’s Rise Mzansi and parties formed by former opposition party leaders including Mmusi Maimane, Abel Tau and Bongani Baloyi suggest a desire for change in the country’s political trajectory.
Some parties, though, appear to have been formed due to “irreconcilable differences” with their previous leaders, rather than a genuine desire to bring about change.
One such party, Xiluva, was hastily launched by former Midvaal mayor and former Gauteng ActionSA chairperson Baloyi after a dispute with his former leader Herman Mashaba.
Despite being offered a position as the party’s national spokesperson and a member of the senate, Baloyi aspired to become a leader in his own right.
How prepared is Baloyi for his own political future? Baloyi has been found wanting. Indications may be that not much thought has been put into the idea, if such small things as failing to produce a properly conceived party logo is anything to go by. Xiluva’s logo teemed with grammatical errors. Little things matter, and this must raise concerns about the party’s readiness to enter the cut-throat terrain of politics.
In contrast, fellow newcomers Arise SA and Rise Mzansi announced their arrival with sheer professionalism with little room for schoolboy errors.
But still, the lack of a political background from newcomers raises questions about their ability to stamp their authority ahead of what is billed as the watershed national polls since the first democratic dispensation of 1994.
Abel Tau, another former member of ActionSA, started his own party after he was fired amid a sexual misconduct scandal. He started his party while his other foot was still in ActionSA, suggesting a measure of unpreparedness.
Similarly, Maimane founded Build One SA after leaving the DA. At the national polls of 2019, under his watch, the DA suffered a significant percentage loss and several MPs seats.
Several parties have struggled to dethrone the ANC. As it turned out, their formation was related to economic opportunities to provide employment for leaders who had lost favour in their previous political homes.
The SA political history is rich with such examples. Bantu Holomisa, a leading figure of the ANC in the 1990s, was dismissed from the party in 1996. He started UDM. COPE is a creation of dissidents who left the ANC after former president Thabo Mbeki was ousted for Jacob Zuma in 2008. Julius Malema left the ANC after he lost favour with the ANC in 2012 to form the EFF.
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