News24 | ACDP does a political U-turn, wants to join DA, ActionSA, IFP in 2024 coalition pact

ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe.

• The ACDP did not want to join the DA and several other parties at the launch of a coalition pact in August. 
• Now, after initial reluctance, the ACDP has changed its mind and wants in on the political campaign to remove the ANC in 2024. 
• The pact currently does not enjoy the majority of support in the country and extensive campaigning is required ahead of the 2024 elections.

After initially refusing to join a coalition pact with the DA and ActionSA, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) now wants to be part of the Multi-Party Charter launched a few months ago - with an eye on the 2024 elections. 

ACDP MP Wayne Thring said his party remained reluctant to discuss coalitions or partnerships before the elections. 

However, he said that the ACDP sees value in a partnership with the DA, ActionSA, IFP and four other political parties ahead of the 2024 elections. 

The ACDP is keen on joining the Multi-Party Charter with the idea that the partnership does not equal an immediate coalition partnership but a framework to run a coalition government if one is eventually formed after the 2024 elections.

The Multi-Party Charter was launched in August and consisted of three big parties: ActionSA, DA, the IFP as well as more minnow political parties. 

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The IFP, DA, ActionSA and the ACDP already have a working relationship on the coalition front in Gauteng metros of Tshwane, and previously governed in Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg. 

With political commentators predicting that the ANC may dip in its electoral performance in the 2024 election, the pact partners believe the same can be replicated nationally.

The political parties must aggressively campaign ahead of the elections to increase their electoral performance, election analysts have said. 

Despite the ACDP agreeing to join the pact, the party still does not have enough support nationally to contribute considerably to it. The party received just 0.84% of the votes in the 2019 elections. 

"No one can say with absolute certainty what the outcome of the 2024 national and provincial elections would be. When the moonshot pact was announced, the ACDP expressed its concerns, including the lack of consultation with other opposition parties," said Thring.

"We attended the pact meetings as observers, making it clear from the outset that, in our opinion, any coalition agreements before an election would not only be premature but also presumptuous." 

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"It was confirmed to us that the charter was not a coalition but rather a gathering of parties concerned about the trajectory the country is taking under the current governing party. It was also confirmed that the charter sought to draft rules, systems, and mechanisms for the efficient running of a coalition post-2024," the ACDP MP said in a statement.

The IFP had also faced internal resistance - when party leader Velenkosini Hlabisa decided to solidify a growing working relationship with the DA in KwaZulu-Natal as well as his commitment to the Multiparty Charter.

A faction in the IPF, primarily led by the party's youth league, questioned the pact. But the league lost the fight, News24 reported.