Former African National Congress (ANC) member, prominent activist and now independent candidate Zackie Achmat believes a coalition government is likely after the 2024 elections but advised that stability is needed to move the country forward.

Speaking exclusively with Polity on Wednesday, he warned against authoritarianism, Trumpism and Zumaism and said stability and the rule of law were needed to improve the conditions of the working class.

“If we don’t improve it for the working class it will not be improved for anyone else, in fact it would become a danger for middle class and upper class people. So our duty is to see first and foremost that the country is stable and the stability should not be one that endorses corruption, it should not be one that doesn’t support the rule of law and the Constitution. It shouldn’t be one that allows people to say no minimum wage. For me, I wouldn’t enter a coalition but I would vote for a President,” he said.

“Although I must say this, I couldn’t imagine voting for [Democratic Alliance leader] John Steenhuisen,” he added.

Achmat, who is one of the 11 independent candidates aiming for seats in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures in this year’s elections, said his decision to stand for Parliament was a difficult one, particularly as the ANC had been his only political home.

Achmat noted his work over the years after leaving the ANC, from the Treatment Action Campaign's HIV work, to land justice, Equal Education, the Social Justice Coalition and Ndifuna Ukwazi, and then the UniteBehind movement, which focused on challenging corruption at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa.

“…and I almost gave up on that. It would have been the first thing in my life that I nearly gave up on because I thought it was so bad. And then I thought, because I was in UniteBehind with my comrades, we couldn’t let them get away with it, we couldn’t let the ANC get away with it, we couldn’t let the corrupt officials and corrupt companies get away with it. When the Constitutional Court ruled [that independents could contest the election] a bunch of my comrades said to me you have to stand for Parliament,” he explained.

Achmat stressed that while he was standing as an independent, he was going into the election as a part of a movement and said he would like to be a Member of Parliament that does good.

He aims to serve on Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), where he believes he will be the most effective in making a difference.

He said while the majority party will have the ability to decide who sits on Parliamentary committees, he would hope that they would consider his experience and take into account his stance on corruption and State capture and his ability to deep dive into Auditor General (AG) reports.

“The important thing for me about doing that is those reports, no one knows about it. The AG issues a report and says there was wasteful and fruitless expenditure, there was irregular expenditure, basically outlining corruption and waste. They don’t name the companies and they don’t name the officials who are implicated. That should be Scopa’s job. It’s been so rare that Scopa has actually ever called a company to give evidence about corruption. So for me being on Scopa would be to get those reports to communities and to discuss it there and to take their voices back into Parliament,” he pointed out.

His aim is to use Parliament to build a community knowledge movement that will strengthen democracy and ensure that “better people” are appointed in government.

Another pillar of his campaign is to fix the State. For him, Section 195 of the Constitution is more important that the Bill of Rights, as it speaks about public administration and advocates for an open, accountable, efficient, ethical public service that provides timely, accurate and accessible information to advance citizens’ needs.

“When I ask you to vote for me, I’m going to take your voice to Parliament, I’m going to ask Parliament to call you if you have something to say… whether you’re a community or a progressive expert,” Achmat pledged.