Ahead of the 2024 elections, Democratic Alliance (DA) leaders in South Africa visited a number of Gauteng province communities on Monday to register voters.
The event was also used by the party to release its campaign slogan and poster.
The African National Congress is under attack by the Alliance for being corrupt and inefficient.
The DA leader, John Steenhuisen, said: “We need to be able to send a clear message to South Africans that there is hope for a better future if you are tired of corruption, if you are tired of load shedding, if you are tired of having your job cut short, if you are tired of looking for work every single day.”
Seven opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance, came to an agreement in July to form a coalition with the goal of deposing the ANC the following year. South Africans vote for a party, not a president, in national elections.
The only way we will be able to do that is if you are able to register and not only register, but on election day around May next year, come out and vote, said Solly Msimanga, the DA Gauteng leader. “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,” he added.
While the ANC received 57.5% of the vote in the 2019 election, the municipal elections two years prior saw a stunning turn in South African politics when the party’s support fell below 50%.
Due to criticism for failing to deliver basic amenities and alleviate poverty for millions of the country’s Black majority, the party has seen its support decline in recent years.