The ACDP was officially welcomed as the newest member to the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa at a media briefing and signing ceremony held in Parliament on Thursday.
The party is the eighth to be in the pre-election agreement of opposition parties seeking to unseat the ANC in the 2024 general elections.
Other parties forming the Charter include the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, United Independent Movement, Spectrum National Party and Independent South African National Civic Organisation.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said they welcomed the ADCP as the Multi-Party Charter started to gather its momentum ahead of the weekend voter registration and 2024 elections.
“Many people wrote the Multi-Party Charter off and they said the Moonshot would never work. Here we are today, we are adding the eight parties to the Charter and starting to grow the support of the Charter to ensure it reaches across more and more South Africans,” Steenhuisen said.
“We stand the best chance of unseating the ANC and ushering in a new era of good, clean and accountable government that delivers to the people of South Africa, lifts the people out of poverty and spends the money on the people, not the politicians,” he added.
ACDP president Kenneth Meshoe said after lengthy discussions, engagements and broad consultation with ACDP members, supporters and friends, they have finally received the mandate from the members to join the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa.
“The vision of this Multi-Party Charter for South Africa is to ‘form a new government that will build a just, inclusive and prosperous South Africa based on opportunity, freedom and security for all of its citizens’.
“I want to reiterate and re-assure all our ACDP members and supporters that we will not form a coalition before the 2024 elections, as alleged, but only after the elections, if that is deemed necessary,” he said.
Meshoe said they signed the Multi-Party Charter formed by opposition parties that agreed that South Africa needed a viable alternative to the ANC government which has ruined the country.
“This Multi-Party Charter for South Africa is a coming together of opposition parties to lay a framework and rules which will govern a possible coalition post the 2024 elections should that need arise.
“The Multi-Party Charter for South Africa is not a coalition and the ACDP will not form a coalition with the DA or any other political party before the 2024 elections,” he said.
Meshoe assured other parties in the pre-election agreement that with the ACDP, they were welcoming a party based on biblical principles, undergirded by moral integrity.
“The ACDP is committed to values that will make any future cooperation successful, values such as trust, respect, accountability, and transparency,” he added.
In a statement the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa said as opposition parties they recognise the need to stand together, not only to bring the ANC below 50% in the 2024 elections, but also to offer voters real hope for a viable alternative to the ANC after the elections.
“This viable alternative is a multi-party government.”
They called on South Africans to check that they were correctly registered to vote in 2024 elections.
“Only by uniting will we be able to unseat the ANC and bring in a capable, accountable, caring government that can start to address the pressing challenges facing South Africans today.”
Cape Times