Durban – ActionSA president Herman Mashaba has challenged the notion of the moonshot pact, saying he would not join the DA initiative until the party publicly announced that it would not work with the ANC.
The moonshot pact is a grouping of civil society bodies and opposition parties that are opposed to an ANC and EFF coalition government.
John Steenhuisen following his re-election as DA federal leader last month said the party would immediately initiate a process to form a pre-election “moonshot pact” with like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and civic movements to defeat the ANC and to keep the EFF out.
“The pact’s purpose will also be to sit around the table to agree on rules of engagement that will enable different organisations to retain their own identities while bringing an end to the petty squabbles and division that only benefits the ANC.
“Furthermore, when I say we must work together to decisively defeat the ANC, I do so deliberately. It will not be enough to save South Africa if we drag the ANC to just below 50%, as that will still leave them with too many avenues to stay in power, including through a doomsday coalition with the EFF,” Steenhuisen said.
The IFP has said that while it welcomed the invitation to engage in a national convention of like-minded opposition parties to investigate how they might collectively strengthen South Africa’s future, it had not entered into an election coalition agreement with any party.
ActionSA and the FF Plus have also given a conditional acceptance to the DA invitation to participate in the pact.
The UDM and ACDP have indicated that they will not be part of a pact that lists other opposition parties as “enemies”.
On Saturday Mashaba said that before the party could engage in serious negotiations it wanted a public announcement that the pact would not work with the ANC.
Mashaba said there were indications that no single party would receive a majority vote, or over 50%, at next year’s national general elections and this would mean a coalition government for the first time since democracy.
He said ActionSA was a new party and realistically would not get a majority, but could play a serious role in coalition politics.
THE MERCURY
