LISTEN | DA to meet multiparty charter partners on way forward

Helen Zille says DA to engage MPC partners ahead of imminent coalition talks

31 May 2024 - 19:39
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May 31, 2024.DA Federal Council Leader Chairperson Helen Zille at the 2024 Election National Results Operation Centre (ROC) at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand Johannesburg. Picture: Freddy Mavunda © Business Day
May 31, 2024.DA Federal Council Leader Chairperson Helen Zille at the 2024 Election National Results Operation Centre (ROC) at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand Johannesburg. Picture: Freddy Mavunda © Business Day
Image: Freddy Mavunda

The DA is preparing to meet its multiparty charter partners to chart a way forward on possible coalition governments at both national and provincial level the election amid the prospect of a hung parliament and several hung provincial legislatures after Wednesday's elections.

This is according to DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille, who spoke to TimesLIVE at the IEC national results operations centre at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.

Zille said their discussions with their partners in the multiparty charter, due to take place on Saturday, would also be taken to the DA federal executive committee meeting scheduled for Sunday.

While its partners were performing below expectations as votes continued to be tallied on Friday, the DA was boasting a good performance.

By 6pm, the DA was number two on the national ballot, with 22.40% of the votes, while the ANC was leading with 41.70%.

It’s MPC partners, such the IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ACDP and ActionSA were lagging far behind and had not reached double digit margins.

But Zille, who is responsible for the DA’s day-to-day operations, said they needed to take their MPC partners on board and craft “a jointly agreed pathway”.

“The first thing we’re going to do is to get together with our MPC partners because we won’t want to go ahead without them,” said Zille.

“We would much prefer to have a jointly agreed pathway into the future and when we’ve had the conversation with our MPC partners tomorrow, then we will take it to our Fedex on Sunday.”

Zille said she was happy with the DA’s performance in Wednesday's general elections, which was seeing the blue party return to support levels it last enjoyed in 2014.

“We’re happy, yes. We’re the only parliamentary party that has grown and we’ve turned around the loss of 2019 and we are making steady progress.”

While she did not mention the ANC or any party by name, Zille said coalitions were not the only available options available.

“We’ve a lot of experiences of coalitions, especially in the DA. I was in my first coalition in 1999. But coalitions are not the only option when no party reaches 50%.

“There are things like forming a strong opposition bloc. There are things like forming minority governments. The are things like confidence and supply arrangements. We’ve got many options.”

Zille said this week’s elections, which saw ANC support dipping to below 50% at national level for the first time in 30 years, was a “watershed” moment.

“This is a watershed election. Looking at the history of liberation movements across the continent, they start very strongly with overwhelming majorities and then after 20 or 30 years, they unravel.

“And we’re seeing the same thing happening in South Africa. The ANC will never get a 50% plus majority ever again. They will continue to decline.”

TimesLIVE


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