South Africa’s Democratic Alliance launches voter registration drive

Leaders of South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday traversed several localities in Gauteng province to register voters ahead of the 2024 elections.

The party also used the occasion to unveil its campaign poster and slogan.

The Alliance seeks to unseat the African National Congress which it accuses of corruption and mismanagement.

“We need to be able to send a clear message to South Africans , that if you are tired of corruption, if you are tired of load shedding, if you are tired of your job being put onto short time, you are tired of looking for work every single day, that there is hope for a better future,” said John Steenhuisen, the DA leader.

In July, seven opposition parties led by the Democratic Alliance reached an agreement to form a coalition with a view to unseat the ANC next year. In national elections, South Africans vote for a party, not a president.

“We need a government that will provide for the people, a government that will be an alternative , not a better version of, but an alternative to what we have come to know, and the only way that we will be able to do that, is if you are able to then register and not only register, but on election day around May next year, come out and vote,” said Solly Msimanga, the DA Gauteng leader.

In the 2019 election, the ANC won 57.5% of the vote but its share dipped below half in local elections two years ago, seen as a remarkable moment in South African politics. 

The party has seen its support wane in recent years amid criticism that it has failed to provide basic services and ease poverty for millions of the country’s Black majority.