Palestinian Authority leader Gayton McKenzie attends his party's “victory rally” at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on May 10, 2024. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
KwaZulu-Natal Patriotic Alliance (PA) leadership candidate Ian Peter is pleased with his party's election results and, like other small parties contesting national elections for the first time, hopes that the party's representation in Parliament will increase over time.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian at the IEC Results Operations Centre in Durban on Sunday, Peter said the party, which came in sixth place nationally with 330,376 votes (2.06%), had expected a better result. The PA received 7,841 votes (0.22%) in the KwaZulu-Natal election.
“I think we did pretty well. The atmosphere on the ground during the election campaign, the feedback we got from people, sometimes from communities we least expected, was, 'We know about the Patriotic Alliance, we support you, we're going to vote for you.'”
“It was very good and I was hoping for a better result because of what Gayton said. [McKenzie, party leader] “What we were doing on the ground in the Jocelyn Smith case, we have been working since 2021 and our work will not stop after the local elections in the area,” Peter said.
“We had expected a higher turnout. We expected to win 23 seats in Parliament but our voters' voices were heard. We ended up winning nine seats, most of them in the Western Cape and Northern Cape,” Peter said.
“KwaZulu-Natal obviously didn't perform as well but I am happy with our results in KwaZulu-Natal because, despite being a new and small party, we performed exceptionally well. This set the stage for us,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority's manifesto pledges include putting God back in schools, conscripting all unemployed young people over the age of 18 into the military, and promoting the efficient use of local resources to ensure that citizens can benefit from the country's natural resources.
“Under the Patriotic Union, we want one nation under God. There is no black, white and Indian coloured, because during apartheid there were only white and non-white. And now after apartheid there are four different races and it is even more divided. So we are trying to bring everyone together and have one nation under God and give equal opportunities to everyone,” Peter said.
He said the Palestinian Authority was looking to local elections in 2026 to win local seats.
ActionSA provincial secretary Zanele Ngcwensa said the party received 192,127 votes (1.2%), coming eighth nationally and winning six seats in parliament.
“We have crisscrossed the state and engaged with many people in the communities. We take the results for what they are and congratulate those who have succeeded,” she said, adding that the party will “stick closely to the plan and work to rebuild the state.”
Build One South Africa (Bosa) provincial leader and premiership candidate Ntokozo Biela said while the new party had performed well in the national vote, winning two seats in parliament, it had not performed as well in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Our plan was to build one South Africa and our leader, Mmusi Maimane, will continue to insist on that because the parties are divided on the basis of province, nationality and so on. He is there to inject some rationality into the political world,” he said.
“I hope that political party leaders will calm down and listen to the voice of South Africans. People want change and that change must be implemented, otherwise things will only get worse,” Biela said.
Rise Mzansi provincial and national candidate Allison Schuman said the election was important for the new party, which had a lot to learn. The party won two seats in parliament.
“We are very proud of our achievements in this election, considering that we are a new party and had no base to operate from in previous elections. Our members worked incredibly hard and it is testament to the hope and inspiration that people had for this election and for the future of South Africa,” Schuman said.
“The result of the provincial elections is a bit disappointing and unfortunately I won't be going to the provincial elections but that doesn't mean the job is done. There are local elections in two years' time if things don't change by then in eThekwini itself,” she said.
United Independence Movement (UIM) KwaZulu-Natal representative Norman Gilbert said Neil de Beer founded the party in 2021 and it contested the municipal elections “with great success”, winning seats in Cape Town, Johannesburg and eThekwini.
UIM only contested the national and regional polls in 2024 and received 20,003 votes nationwide.
“We are disappointed that we did not win a seat. Our aim was to win one seat and get Neil de Vere into Parliament. We came close, but as the saying goes, we came close, but we came close,” he said.
“It's a little disappointing, but we're going to use this as a starting point, learn from our mistakes and then try our hardest to get to the local elections in 2026, because that's where most of our service delivery happens, and then of course try again in 2029,” Gilbert said.