Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said on Wednesday that political parties will have to think long and hard about where they’d like to see South Africa after 2024.

Steenhuisen explained that, according to latest polling, there was a mere 11% points difference between the African National Congress (ANC) and the DA, explaining that this meant a coalition government, post-2024, would either be led by the DA or by the ANC.

“Every party is going to have to think long and hard about where they’d like to see South Africa after 2024. Because when we speak of a coalition alternative following the next election, we’re not only talking about one possibility,” he said.

Steenhuisen added that there were only two realistic coalition outcomes, explaining that every party and its leaders will have to decide which of those two options they want for the country.

“I can only speak for the DA when I say that our commitment to bringing about change for the people of South Africa will not waver. Our project is to replace the ANC government, and we will see this project through,” he said.

He said the DA would continue to engage with other political parties that shared its core values as it looked towards 2024 and beyond.

“Because our coalition - the coalition of reform, accountability and delivery - will need to be ready to step into national government in less than two years’ time. We will also continue, through these metro coalitions, to serve the residents as best we can, because people need to see and believe that coalition governments are not only possible, but also that they can be effective,” he added.

He assured citizens that his party could fight the ANC, saying the DA’s entire focus was on replacing the ANC government with a coalition government in 2024.

COORDINATED ATTACKS ON COALITION GOVERNMENTS

Steenhuisen alleged that there was a coordinated attack on the coalition governments of Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, orchestrated by the ANC and supported by its small proxy parties.

“The mayors of these metros - who all happen to be DA mayors - are being targeted simultaneously in an effort to destabilise these governments and let the ANC in the back door. In Tshwane, the ANC has submitted a motion of no confidence in Mayor Randall Williams, while in Johannesburg its allies, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the African Independent Congress, have done the same to Mayor Mpho Phalatse. And we understand there are now similar plans afoot for Mayor Tania Campbell in Ekurhuleni,” he claimed.

He explained that these coordinated attacks on DA mayors - and also on speakers - were nothing short of a coup attempt by the corrupt.

Steenhuisen said this was the work of an ANC that found itself cut off from its entire patronage network in these Gauteng metros.

“As a result it now cannot fund its own operation or pay its own staff, not to mention the blow this has dealt to the lavish lifestyles many of its members have become accustomed to. It desperately needs to get its hands back in the cash register, and it will stop at nothing in its efforts to do so,” he stated.

Steenhuisen said that by trying to scupper these metro coalition governments, the ANC was effectively attacking the country’s chance to move beyond ANC dominance.

“They are attacking project South Africa and threatening to drag the country back to a place it should never, ever return to,” he added.

Steenhuisen stated that the project to replace the ANC government was too important to fail, adding that the DA was determined to keep the ANC and its proxy parties from sabotaging the future of the country.

He said the DA had no doubt that most of the party’s coalition partners would stand beside the DA to help ward off an attempted power grab from the ANC.

“There are many of us across multiple parties who share a vision of a South Africa that works for all its people and who believe that this vision is now well within our reach. I am greatly encouraged by the principled stance of our coalition partners who have held the line,” he said.