WATCH: ‘Our president has gay friends, we’re not homophobic’ − ACDP

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has often been involved in multiple controversies.

The party’s deputy president Wayne Thring addressed some of the party’s most contentious issues in an interview with Newzroom Afrika recently.

He asserted that the ACDP is not homophobic, despite its historical opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.

Watch: ACDP Deputy President Wayne Thring speaks on party’s declining support and addressing issues causing said decline

Particular worldview on LGBTQ+ but not homophobic

Thring acknowledged that the party has to go back to the drawing board and reinvent itself.

He added that after the elections the party will be open to positive criticism from political analysts, the public and the likes.

However, when prompted by Aldrin Sampear on the party’s current stance on homosexuality and LGBTQ+ rights, Thring said the party’s position on the matter has been consistent.

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“We have a particular worldview but that does not mean that we are homophobic. There are many of our… you know you look at the ACDP president, he has friends who are gay and belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. So we are not necessarily homophobic,” he said.

Additionally, Thring said the ACDP sees and treats homosexuality the same way it treats infidelity.

“Our position is much the same when it comes to other issues, where you have individuals, for example, having different affairs while married.

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“The ACDP takes a similar stance. In terms of our worldview we are going to differ but that does not mean that we hate,” he said.

Moreover, Thring reiterated that the party still opposes abortion.

Reinventing ACDP

With 80% of South Africans identifying as Christians, the ACDP deputy leader said it’s an anomaly that the party only has less than 1% of supporters.

He added that a survey conducted over 10 years ago compared ACDP’s policies to those of other political parties and revealed that 70% of respondents identified with ACDP’s policies.

“There’s a disconnect between people identifying with our policies and people who are not necessarily resonating with the ACDP when it comes to perhaps a national issue.

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“These are things that we certainly need to work on,” he said.

The ACDP, which has seen a decline in support over the years garnering a percentage ranging from 0,64 to 0,8 in 2019, says it is reinventing itself as it tries to pull support from the new electorate pool.

According to the Electoral Commission, the party had two seats in parliament in 1994, this increased to 6 in 1999, and 7 seats in 2004. It then decreased to 3 seats in 2009 and maintained this until 2014. It garnered 4 seats in 2019.

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Hope for turnaround

Thring expressed hopefulness in the party’s ability to get more votes in the 29 May elections, which will translate into more seats in the National Assembly.

“The curtain hasn’t been drawn as yet, so we may still see the ACDP coming towards that 0,8 or beyond when the results come,” said Thring.

Furthermore, Thring blamed the decline in the party’s support to floor-crossings that dates back to about two decades ago.

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Thring said it hurt the ACDP dearly when some of its members crossed the floor in 2009. He also said that many of the supporters of the party at the time showed disappointment in those who “betrayed” the party.

The ghosts of its past that included controversies they supported, such as offensive public statements made by their leaders comparing homosexuality to paedophilia, supporting corporal punishment in schools and opposing abortion amongst others still haunt the party.

The party also stood against the Civil Union Act, which legalised same-sex marriage in South Africa, in 2006.

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This stance was seen as discriminatory by many, which Thring says still poses a barrier to the party gaining more support.

“We still had some of those voters come to us and say we cannot vote for the ACDP because we remember what happened 20 years ago,” he said.