The DA and its potential coalition partners will need to boost their 2021 elections support by at least 10 percentage points to stand a chance of ousting the ANC in next year’s polls, according to party leader John Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen told party delegates at the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal conference yesterday that seven opposition parties had signed onto the “moonshot pact” that they hope will prevent a national ANC-EFF coalition taking office.
He said the seven parties between them had received one-third of the votes in the 2021 local government elections.
“Depending on the exact, final composition of the pact, this will likely mean that we need to grow the total vote by about 10%-15% between 2021 and 2024. I fundamentally believe that this is possible.”
In 2021 the ANC won 45.6% and the EFF garnered 10.3%, compared with 21.6% for the DA, 5.6% for the IFP and 2.3% each for the FF+ and ActionSA.
Steenhuisen said the DA had set its sights on KwaZulu-Natal as the next province where the ANC could be ousted.
“KwaZulu-Natal is going to be home to one of the DA’s flagship campaigns in the lead-up to the 2024 election, because victory is within reach here for the DA.
"The unfolding dynamics in KwaZulu-Natal provide a perfect case study for what we can achieve through the moonshot pact.”
Steenhuisen, who first outlined the DA’s moonshot pact ambitions at the party’s federal congress four weeks ago, said polling indicated the ANC would struggle to get even 40% in KwaZulu-Natal if an election took place tomorrow.
KwaZulu-Natal is going to be home to one of the DA’s flagship campaigns in the lead-up to the 2024 election, because victory is within reach here
— DA leader John Steenhuisen
The DA is likely to trumpet its administration of the Umngeni local municipality, where Chris Pappas is mayor, in trying to persuade voters that it can do better than the ANC.
Francois Rodgers, leader of the DA in the province, who was reelected yesterday, said: “The DA has proven it is ready to govern, it is the only party in KwaZulu-Natal ready to govern — Chris Pappas has done it in uMUmngeni, the DA can do it in [the whole province].”
The DA could only take power in the province in partnership with the IFP.
“The relationship between the DA and IFP in this province is not only important for the future of the moonshot pact, it also demonstrates that when we work together in the best interests of the country, an opposition pact can become larger than the sum of its parts,” Steenhuisen said.
“Let's get out there and fight like never before. The current numbers tell us that if we partner with other opposition parties here … including the IFP, then we are already poised to overtake the ANC.
“What remains is for us to work with our partners to grow the DA’s vote share to the highest possible level, so that the pact can together reach 50% plus one in KwaZulu-Natal,” he told delegates.
“I know this can be done and I want to congratulate the DA in KwaZulu-Natal for showing us how.”
Steenhuisen acknowledged the moonshot pact could fail in its 2024 ambitions, and the DA was ready to continue its role as the main opposition party.
“If the pact does not manage to push the ANC and EFF to less than 50% combined, then the DA will become the very last bulwark between this doomsday coalition and its attempt to finish off our country through destructive policies like expropriation without compensation, nationalising the Reserve Bank and killing off the private sector,” he said.
Steenhuisen said an ANC coalition with the EFF would give free rein to the ruling party’s worst instincts.
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