Smaller parties fight on as they launch manifestos at the weekend

Is the 1 November local government elections approach, the smaller parties are emerging from the shadows to launch their manifestos and forge interesting alliances while Freedom Front Plus (FF+) is attracting coloured and some black voters in the Western Cape.

This could be seen as a threat to the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the province, especially after the FF+ fielded Lennit Max, former police commissioner and exMEC for safety and security, as its Cape Town mayoral candidate.

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) would launch their manifestos tomorrow.

Last week, ATM announced a co-operation agreement with African People Convention led by former Scopa chair Themba Godi.

Godi said the two parties agreed to work together on issues of national importance.

“We believe that unity in action is of national importance,” said Godi.

“We will remain separate organiSation that works together without any ambition of being a single organisation.”

PAC president Mzwanele Nyhontso would address the party manifesto launch at Monti Motloung Hall in Duduza, Ekurhuleni.

He said the party’s manifesto would dwell on land and economic liberation, the PAC’s historical rallying issues. The FF+, historically a voice of white Afrikaners, is making inroads in the coloured areas where more are joining the party.

Some prominent members have availed themselves as its candidates for the election, including Max, who is an advocate with an LLM degree.

FF+ Western Cape provincial leader Corné Mulder said the party had seen significant growth among coloured and black people in the province.

He said at least 68% of the candidates in the Cape Town metro were people of colour, with the coloured people being the majority on the list. A few black people have stood under the party banner as well.

It’s believed the FF+ selected Max in order to attract the coloured and blacks away from the DA and the party vowed to keep the ANC at bay in the province.

Max’s running mate as deputy mayoral candidate is councillor Erika Botha-Rossouw – also a seasoned politician and FF+ deputy leader for Western Cape who also served the party in the Cape Town metro.

Mulder said the party always had people of colour as councillors, particularly in the Western Cape, citing places like Mossel Bay, Hessequa municipality. Former DA Westerm Cape premier Pieter Marais had been its MP since 2019.

The party is contesting in 185 municipalities and 3 200 wards in the local election.

Mulder said in the FF+’s view people who occupied leadership positions should be familiar with the problems at the local government level so they can ensure that service delivery was effective and that those who pay for the services got value for money.

The party vowed to keep the ANC from the Western Cape.

“The ANC must be kept out at all costs and in order to achieve that, the minorities of the city and province must join hands.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za