Ahead of the 8 May National Elections you would do well to acquaint yourself with the Political Parties registered on the National level for the elections.
These political parties are contesting for seats in the 2019 National Assembly elections on 8 May 2019.
Please note you STILL need to go to the polls on 8 May 2019 and VOTE in person .........
Today we introduce you to: Patriotic Alliance – PA
Ex-con-turned-businessman-and-self-help-writer Gayton McKenzie is the man behind the Patriotic Alliance, formed in 2013. In 2014 the party won just over 13,000 votes nationally, but despite that poor showing has since played a prominent role in the politics of Nelson Mandela Bay, flip-flopping between the EFF and the DA over the ousting of former mayor Athol Trollip. Although it campaigned hard to win “coloured” votes in previous elections – making its appeal to this demographic with the “too black under apartheid, too white under the ANC” line – it has said that the party is open to voters of all races. The PA does not seem to have published its 2019 manifesto online yet.
The party has stated its belief that too many structural inequalities still dominate the South African socioeconomic landscape. The PA goes on to describe itself as economically centrist and wishes to establish state-private partnerships in key sectors and reduce the use of consultants by the state, particularly when civil service positions are staffed for such roles.
The PA has pledged it will push for life sentences for those found guilty of corruption in government and will make random integrity testing mandatory for all public servants, especially the police. It views state funding for developing and changing the ownership patterns of the fishing industry, in favour of traditional coastal communities, as one of its key interests.
It also wants to establish and develop a state-owned bank to lend money to those who would not be able to afford the rates charged by private banks. It backs a policy of land reform that involves the state paying for land targeted for reform through a flat-rate payment system determined by government, instead of the “willing seller, willing buyer” system adopted by the ANC or the expropriation without compensation policy called for by radical parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters. It has backed calls to improve state housing for all poor people in South Africa and wants to lower and even scrap the rents being paid to government by poor communities on the Cape Flats. Its other policies cover a wide range of issues, from improving education to prison reform, the provision of better state healthcare, wide-scale industrialisation and dealing with the country’s high unemployment levels.
However, the PA’s most notable policy point is the suggestion that Black Economic Empowerment be changed from a model that benefits selected black elite individuals to one that will benefit all registered voters from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. The PA proposes that a “People’s Empowerment Partner” entity be established to take stakes in key industries in the country, the dividends from which would be divided among the people and paid out using a similar system to the one currently dispensing social grants. In interviews, both McKenzie and Kunene have stated that they see this as a similar approach to that adopted by successful socialist countries like Norway, which divide profits from the oil industry among all citizens. They have also said that once South Africa’s high Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality in countries, has been lowered, the money paid to the empowerment partner could be paid to all citizens, including white South Africans. It views this intervention as essential and a long-term programme, if South Africa wishes to successfully tackle its challenge of severe inequality.
The bulk of the party’s support is to be found among the coloured communities of the Western Cape, although the party has stated that it is not a coloureds-only party and will canvass for support among all voters. In interviews, representatives have stated that the party has its roots in the coloured community and will therefore be putting political issues that affect the coloured community on the agenda. The party states that, in its opinion, no other party is catering directly for the needs of so-called “coloured voters”.
At the beginning of March 2014, a founding member of the DA, Freddie Kearns, announced that he had left the DA and his job as a councillor and was joining the PA in order to grow the party in the Western Cape; he added that he was dissatisfied with the way the DA had, according to him, abandoned its coloured constituents. “The DA is just using the coloured vote, afterwards they discard our people. When the masses come in their thousands to complain to the DA, they are ignored,” he said.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrioticalliance/
This information is gathered from the IEC and the above party website or publicly available documents.
Click here to see ALL 2019’s registered national parties.
Alan Straton
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