Multi-Party Charter ready for takeoff, but Codesa III it is not

Wednesday.

The focus may be on the 2024 national and provincial elections, but the vibes are oh so very 1994 at the Emperor’s Palace casino — Mzansi’s Cape Canaveral — where the moonshot pact talks between opposition parties are taking place.

It’s not just the exhibition of pictures from South Africa’s transition to democracy and the Convention for a Democratic South Africa — Codesa I and II — or the vert-de-gris wallpaper that throws one back to the last century.

Thirty years after the first democratic elections that brought the governing party to power, there’s a sense of déjà vu as the party leaders gathered to launch the moonshot and proclaim the need — like their predecessors in 1994 — to save South Africa by keeping the ANC out of office.

It’s an old song — a remix from the 1994 playbook used by their predecessors that Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa and Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald are singing.

ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba and the leaders of the United Independent Movement, the Spectrum National Party and iSanco — creations of the democratic dispensation that are untested in national and provincial elections — have all added their voices to the chorus.

From where they sit, it’s 1994 all over again, a make or break point in the history of the republic of equal significance to the first elections, with the ANC once more a threat to its existence.

The parties have purposely framed their convention as another Codesa, according to it that level of gravitas, of significance in the country’s history and its future.

It’s a bit of a stretch. The Codesa talks were between opposing parties, not like-minded ones, and were aimed at facilitating an election, not winning one.

It’s also a bit awkward, historically speaking, given that the IFP leadership walked out of Codesa.

There’s also the small matter of the attempt by the white right-wing to stop the negotiations by driving an armoured car through the front door.

Awkward.

It’s the end of day one and the moonshot coalition appears to be ready for takeoff.

The parties have agreed on a new name for their pre-election agreement — the Multiparty Charter for South Africa — and a shared vision for a new government based on eight basic principles accepted by all of them.

They have also agreed on clear priorities that a coalition government would set for itself after 2024, and have given the nod to inviting other parties that subscribe to their principles and priorities to join the coalition ahead of the elections.

It’s a solid result from the day’s talks — and the three months of preliminary discussions since Steenhuisen first mooted the idea of the coalition agreement in April.

Some of those involved are walk-out specialists, so getting them all to the table and keeping them there long enough to hammer out an initial agreement is a big win.

Hatchets have, we are told, been buried and lingering beef between the parties — and between their leaders — set aside for the sake of the greater good. 

Egos, we are assured, have been held in check.

It appears that convention chairperson William Gumede and his team have also had a word with the participants about the need to go beyond simply mobilising against the ANC; to stand for something rather than simply opposing the governing party, if they are to have a chance of pulling this off.

Big questions still have to be answered before the moonshot can actually fly.

How does the DA reconcile this process with its three bills legislating a cap on coalition participation by the smaller parties; who else do they bring on board to make the numbers number and to get to the magic figure of 50% plus one?

Who gets to be president or premier if they win nationally and in the provinces?

For all of the hype in the build-up to talks between opposition parties to launch a pre-election coalition agreement, there’s a remarkable lack of drama about the public part of the proceedings.

There are more media types than punters — or at least punters of the political persuasion — a three-person negotiating team from each party, with support and media staff, and a team of facilitators led by Gumede, whose political marriage counselling skills appear to be on point.

There are a couple of minders attached to the party leaders, trying to blend in with the vert-de-gris wallpaper and look like civilians, but none of the army of cops, blue lights and other associated trappings that come with the power the moonshot parties are seeking to wrestle away from the ANC next May.

At least for now.