The Democratic Alliance calls it the kiss of death — but the marriage of the African National Congress and the New National Party is symptomatic of a new politics of survival that other political parties could resort to.
After the NNP federal council meeting last weekend, the two parties announced they would strengthen their working relationship, a move widely interpreted as the ANC swallowing up the dying Nats.
On the same weekend the Azanian People’s Organisation’s (Azapo) national council decided to accelerate the unity talks with the Pan Africanist Congress and the Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa).
All three parties performed dismally in the April national election. Azapo retained its one seat, Sopa got none and the PAC remained stagnant with the same three seats it won in 1999. None showed any prospect of growth, despite their liberation credentials.
In a candid admission, Azapo secretary Dan Habedi said the organisations had to start listening to the electorate. ”Our people are trying to tell us something.
”We have to form a strong organisation that will give our people an alternative when they no longer want to vote for the ANC. We have to look at the matter seriously.”
Habedi said he was disturbed that parties who were on the right wing during the liberation struggle were now the beneficiaries of open political space.
He was referring to Lucas Mangope’s United Christian Democratic Party. He added that the African Christian Democratic Party was composed mainly of the kind of religious leaders who used to condemn Archbishop Desmond Tutu for involvement in politics, but were now exploiting religion for the same reason.
”We have to ask ourselves who is supporting the growth of these parties. We have to think of reconciliation among us blacks and embrace some of our brothers who were used by apartheid. They represent the same constituency that we do; black people who are victims of apartheid.”
Habedi said that as support for the DA would stop growing at a point, the black parties had to wait in the wings to take over from the ANC when the electorate became disillusioned.
The DA and the Inkatha Freedom Party, supposedly in a coalition, are increasingly bickering, as exemplified by the fight for the status of official opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
Political analyst Professor Susan Booysen said any shifts that were happening resulted from survival instincts, and could not be termed political realignment.
”If the NNP-ANC toenadering had happened a few years ago, I would have thought there were reconsiderations of principle. But with each step of disintegration, the NNP has moved closer to the ANC … They now have zero credibility and will take nothing to the ANC.”
Booysen said the PAC, Azapo and Sopa alliance would not affect the support they enjoyed. ”It is a laudable rapprochement. But I don’t think they will make a case for anything that will capture the imagination of the electorate. Their support may grow a bit but it will never be much. But at least the black consciousness position will be sufficiently articulated.”
As for the United Democratic Movement, Booysen said she would not be surprised if its leader, Bantu Holo-misa, made peace with the ANC and returned with his flock to the fold.
The UDM lost considerable support but still won nine seats. Over the years it has been haemorrhaging through defections to other parties, especially the ANC. To contain that, the party now expects anyone who leaves it to pay it back R250 000, which it calls ”a return on investment”.
The UDM supported the ANC during its bitter battle with the IFP for control of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, and was rewarded with a deputy ministry in government. However, it continues to deny any official toenadering with the ANC.
UDM secretary general Malizole Diko said that in KwaZulu-Natal the party supported the ANC because it believed that the party with the majority of votes should be in power. He said the UDM accepted the deputy ministry because it is ”proudly South African”.
Diko said the UDM was not in discussion with anyone about unity but believed black parties shared the same objectives. ”They all want to see the narrowing of the gap between the haves and have-nots and the speeding up of transformation.”