Mmusi Maimane, former leader of the Democratic Alliance and now head of the One South Africa Movement (OSA), has indicated that he will contest the 2024 elections, hoping to secure the country’s presidency.
A report in the Sunday Times indicated that this would be done via a political ‘vehicle’, which would be unveiled soon. OSA would remain a civic movement.
One of Maimane’s signature issues since venturing into civil society terrain has been electoral reform. While changes to South Africa’s electoral laws are being considered, the likely model will make very small changes to the existing system.
A spokesperson for OSA, Mudzuli Rakhivhane, said: ‘It has become clear that Parliament will pass a new law that will make it very difficult for independents and community organisations to stand alone and compete in elections, and undermine their prospects of success.’
The proposed ‘vehicle’ would be based on what Maimane’s spokesman, Graham Charters, termed a ‘franchise model’. Ideologically, it would be ‘as loose as you want it to be’. Its only apparent foundation would be an emphasis on ubuntu and nonracialism.
Charters explained: ‘All we are trying to do is allow people with constituencies, who want to run for an election, to be able to aggregate under a banner.
‘It’s idealistic and we are still trying to work out the nuts and bolts of it. There is a model there that could work.’
[Image: The Democratic Alliance, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40586181]