Afrikanerbond endorsement could hurt Multi-Party Charter
The endorsement of the MultiParty Charter of opposition parties by the Afrikanerbond — the successor of the Afrikaner Broederbond — could undermine it.
The Multi-Party Charter consists of the DA, the IFP, the Independent SA National Civic Organisation, the Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, the United Independent Movement and the Spectrum National Party. These parties have banded together ahead of the 2024 national elections to oust the ANC, which has governed SA with a comfortable majority since the dawn of democracy.
The charter needs all the help it can get to bring the ANC to below 50% at the polls, including the endorsement of credible civil society formations, to ensure the backing of voters from all backgrounds.
Several surveys, including one by the ANC itself, indicate that the governing party’s electoral support could fall below 50% in the 2024 elections.
Buoyed by opinion polls, opposition parties are gearing up for closer co-operation should the ANC fail to get a majority.
The backing of the charter by the Afrikanerbond probably has the ANC “celebrating all the way to the ballot box”, says political analyst Prof Susan Booysen.
“Other organisations have endorsed the Multi-Party Charter but none of the others come with the political baggage of the Afrikanerbond despite its change to a civil society organisation,” she says.
The charter last week convened a meeting with about 25 civil society organisations including the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), the Brenthurst Foundation and the SA Institute of Race Relations (IRR), with the aim of encouraging these organisations to mobilise their respective members to support the charter’s electoral bid.
The Afrikanerbond repositioned itself as a pro-democracy civil society organisation in recent years despite its roots in apartheid SA. During that time, many prominent members in
SA’s political, cultural and religious life were linked to the Broederbond.
Its chief secretary, Jan Bosman, lambasted the ANC’s policies during discussions about the Multi-Party Charter, saying the former liberation
movement no longer has the moral high ground because of the state of SA’s economy, something he said is partly caused by the ANC-led government’s policies.
“Increasing corruption, unprecedented crime, loadshedding
and poor service delivery have adversely affected every South African,” Bosman said. “Through corruption, selfenrichment, cadre deployment and little to no service delivery, the ANC has lost the moral high ground.”
The latest poll by Ipsos shows that although the ANC remains the dominant party, its electoral support is likely to decline to a maximum of 50% in 2024’s elections.
The DA is estimated to garner 18% of the vote and the EFF 16%. The estimations are based on a high voter turnout of 66%.
Independent elections analyst Wayne Sussman says the Afrikanerbond’s endorsement of the charter would likely have an impact if it had also committed to back the opposition parties financially or through active campaigning.
Other than that, it is “a mere endorsement which will not have an impact at the polls”.
Wits University sociology professor Roger Southall says the endorsement of the Afrikanerbond is a doubleedged sword because though it could shore up right-wing support for the charter, it could bring the ANC and the EFF closer.
“It may shore up the rightwing vote but is going to put a lot of people off and ramp up an ANC/EFF critique of the MultiParty Charter group as apartheid revived. Whether it actually strengthens prospects of an ANC/EFF coalition may be rather different. I suspect many within the ANC would rather work with smaller parties likely to be more co-operative,” he says.
Unisa professor Dirk Kotze says the Afrikanerbond of today is a small organisation with very little influence and even less power and is a shadow of its predecessor.
It has, for example, far less impact in the Afrikaans community at the moment than the Solidarity movement consisting of the Solidarity trade union, AfriForum, Maroela Nuus, the Helpende Hand, Kraal Publishers, Virseker insurance company and many other elements, Kotze says.
“Their endorsement of the Multi-Party Charter is nothing more than a symbolic anti-ANC step with no concrete consequences. It might, however, create an opportunity for the ANC, EFF, PA, ActionSA and others to resuscitate the Broederbond bogey figure ...” Kotze says.