Former DA leader Mmusi Maimane. (David Harrison/M&G)
Build One South Africa (Bosa) appears to be the latest political party preparing to join the multiparty opposition coalition, which aims to collectively unseat the ANC in next year’s national and provincial elections.
Bosa leader Mmusi Maimane is accompanying leaders of the parties involved in the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa to Germany, where they are participating in discussions around how coalitions are managed in that country, hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
The trip is also aimed at “building trust” among the leaders of the parties and taking the discussion beyond the mathematics of the 50% plus one of the vote that they will require to remove the ANC.
And while Maimane said on social media on Tuesday that “Bosa is not part of the multiparty charter”, sources within the group say that it is only a matter of time until the party follows in the footsteps of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and does so.
The Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus, Spectrum National Party, the Independent National Civic Association, ActionSA and the United Independent Movement launched the charter in August after several months of negotiations.
Last week the ACDP confirmed that it was participating in the initiative — despite earlier declining to do so — but said it had not signed the charter as it did not believe in pre-election coalitions.
However, ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe also participated in the visit to Germany this week and sources said he was expected to formally sign on behalf of his party in the near future.
The addition of the ACDP to the coalition sees it still fall far short of the magic figure — the parties still need to bring on board more players to get over the line next May as the ANC is not expected to fall far short of 50%.
Maimane said he was in Germany attending workshops on coalitions negotiations and agreements along with other political party leaders.
“The future of South Africa will require leaders who have an increased knowledge pool around multiple areas of governance and this trip has contributed to that gain of information,” he said.
“Bosa is not part of the multiparty charter. However, I believe it is important to engage with multiple opposition party leaders when it comes to matters of South African interest and this trip provided an opportunity for such discussions.”
Pressed for comment on whether he would be joining the multiparty coalition in future, Maimane referred the Mail & Guardian to his comments online.
Two senior politicians associated with the process who asked not to be named said Bosa would be the next party to join.
“Bosa will be the next on board,” one of the sources said. “The trip will allow the leaders to talk to each other, as well as attending the dialogue and we expect the discussions to help with that process.”
Maimane and Meshoe joined DA leader John Steenhuisen, the IFP’s Velenkosini Hlabisa, ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont and Pieter Groenewald of the FF+ on the Adenauer Foundation programme, which began on Monday and ends Friday.
The foundation is associated with the centre right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and funds democracy development work in more than 100 countries, including South Africa.
It has also funded opposition parties and provided them with training, and last year donated R180 000 to ActionSA, according to quarterly reports on declared party funding published by the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
According to the programme notes, the leaders will meet with leaders of the CDU to discuss their experiences of setting up and running coalition governments at local, provincial and national level.
“It will be increasingly important in future to talk about party cooperation and coalition building and to discuss mechanisms and procedures for overcoming obstacles to cooperation,” the programme says.
“Consequently, this is not only about mere electoral arithmetic, but also specifically about bringing together party functionaries and MPs from different parties (which at first glance do not seem to be close to each other in terms of programmes) in dialogue formats to take into account the change in political communication in the country.”
It adds that the programme “aims to promote exchange and trust between the party leaders of five opposition parties”.
On Monday, they met with Peter Altmaier, former federal minister of economic affairs, who served in several capacities under former German chancellor Angela Merkel during her 16-year tenure, to discuss coalitions in that era.
They were also briefed by Adenauer officials on how to build coalitions going into an election campaign and by the CDU head of mobilisation and campaigns, Christian Wohlrabe, on how to conduct an election campaign as a coalition.
The group is set to meet with a CDU parliamentary delegation, to share their experience of coalitions, and with German academics involved in the CDU’s election campaigns, before moving to Schleswig Holstein state, to wrap up the visit.
Steenhuisen told the M&G that the Germans had navigated a variety of coalitions at a provincial and a state level for several decades and utilised a proportional representation system, with their Bundestag being similar to South Africa’s National Council of Provinces.
“In learning from best practice as it relates to coalition agreements, conflict management and co-governing dynamics, it provides an invaluable wellspring of experience that I believe will assist the multi party charter as it navigates the new waters of provincial and national coalitions,” Steenhuisen said.
“Providing both theoretical and practical experience and insight, the trip will strengthen the ability of the MPC to establish sustainable coalitions that are stable and focus on service delivery.”