UDM president Bantu Holomisa. Photograph: Paul Botes
The ANC says you’ve become an analyst of ANC affairs instead of focusing on your own party.
The people who will judge me are not from the ANC — it’s the voters. The UDM is an opposition and the ANC is the custodian of our Constitution. It runs the country’s affairs on a daily basis. If it doesn’t do it by the rules, the UDM will not fold its arms. If it is angry with that, it means what I’ve been doing is effective.
At your 1997 launch you were a bastion of non-racialism and that was reflected in the leadership. But not now.
It’s true that after Roelf Meyer retired from politics in 2000, a lot of people he came with left and some joined the ANC or the DA. But that doesn’t mean our vision and mission has changed.
When we think UDM, we think Holomisa. Isn’t it a one-man show?
It could be termed one of the UDM’s weaknesses. But we mustn’t lose sight that floor-crossing legislation affected us heavily in building leadership. The ANC snatched many good people. Most were appointed ambassadors or MECs, particularly in the Eastern Cape. But I sense the media is so spoilt that if Holomisa isn’t coming, they say ”no”.
Where are the UDM’s women leaders?
Our caucus chairperson in Parliament is a woman; so are the national treasurer and national organiser. In 2004 we had four women out of 10 MPs on the list. So it’s about 40%. And we want to improve this time.
Isn’t the UDM just an Eastern Cape party?
I’d dispute that. In 2004 the UDM was represented in five provincial legislatures.
In recent by-elections in Port Elizabeth the UDM got a hiding. In one ward it managed only one vote.
It doesn’t matter. The UDM hasn’t spent a cent on campaigning for local elections because we told ourselves that the little resources we have will be focused on the national election.
What reason is there to think you’ll do better in this election?
The voters will reward us because we’ve been consistent in fighting for the voters first, such as floor-crossing. We’ve consistently defended the institutions of our democracy. Our campaigns led to [Jacob] Zuma and [Thabo] Mbeki not finishing their terms of office. The common denominator is the arms deal: Zuma was removed from government because of Schabir Shaik.
Are you are going into a coalition with the Congress of the People?
The UDM has already practised coalitions. The ANC wouldn’t be in power in KwaZulu-Natal if we hadn’t supported them. We’re also in coalition in Cape Town — the best-run municipality. We use a simple formula: we look at who’s got the most votes in a province or municipality and then we help that [party].
Will there be a Cope-UDM coalition government in the Eastern Cape?
If we form a coalition and run the province better, that would be nice. It would be part and parcel of strengthening our democracy. Service delivery would be a winner. So I don’t write off the possibility that Cope, UDM, PAC, DA, any other party, can form a coalition. It will be nice to see ANC sitting on the opposition benches.
Does the UDM stand for anything that is different from other parties?
The UDM has been vocal in saying we must stop this hypocrisy of the world economists — the architects of the World Trade Organisation, who say we must not interfere in the economy. ‘
Before and after the WTO was established, the United States, France and other developed countries intervened in their economies to protect jobs. The UDM argues that we cannot fold our arms when people are suffering and they elect us.