The drive to remove the ANC from the power seat gears up as several political parties are preparing for the multiparty national convention to discuss issues that will ensure that the ANC is knocked out of power in the 2024 elections.
DA leader John Steenhuisen has urged the people of South Africa to rally behind them to remove the ANC from power and replace it with a new Pact government composed of like-minded opposition parties.
"We must ensure a successful convention that sends the Moonshot into space, well on its way to removing the ANC from power and inaugurating a new Pact government in 2024 that will rescue South Africa," he said.
Steenhuisen addressed the nation on Monday ahead of the multiparty national convention that will take place on Wednesday and Thursday in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni.
Parties that will participate in the convention are the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus (FF+), ActionSA, Independent South African National Civic Organisation (Isanco), United Independent Movement (UIM), as well as the Spectrum National Party (SNP).
Steenhuisen said it will take place at the same venue where the historic Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) negotiations took place to replace the apartheid government regime.
"This week, we have an opportunity to do so once again. To do what South Africans have always done best: get around the table, talk to each other, and rise above adversity," Steenhuisen said.
Steenhuisen said the convention will be independently chaired by the respected Professor William Gumede and his capable team.
Steenhuisen added that he was hopeful that they will emerge from the convention with a document that articulates shared values and the minimum policies a pact government would implement to fix the problems plaguing our country.
"Just as with the original Moonshot, when humans achieved the seemingly impossible by sending a man to the moon for the first time, there were a lot of naysayers. They said that opposition parties are too egotistical to get around the same table. They said that we would never be able to put aside petty politics in order to put South Africa first. The naysayers were wrong," Steenhuisen said.
Steenhuisen urged South Africans to stand together and fight to save the country. "Now is the time for us all to stand together and rise to the occasion like never before," he said.
He said they needed a new government that would improve people's lives and environments.
Steenhuisen further warned that any party that chooses pettiness over the people to undermine the pact will be judged harshly by history.
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