Velenkosini Hlabisa speaks during The Big Debate during The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians) 
‘I am not in the business of trust. I am in the business of saving our country from the ANC... It has nothing to do with friendship, with trust,” Action SA leader Herman Mashaba told a full house at The Gathering at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Thursday.
Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, DA leader John Steenhuisen, IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa, Action SA leader Herman Mashaba with moderators Stephen Grootes and Queenin Masuabi during at The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)
Just before that backhanded comment, his Multi-Party Charter (MPC) colleague, DA leader John Steenhuisen, had emphasised working together.
“We must work across party lines. This is the first time in 30 years the opposition is working together to protect the country against ANC corruption,” Steenhuisen said.
Read more in Daily Maverick: The Gathering 2024
Justice Minister and ANC MP Ronald Lamola would have none of it. “As the ANC, we are very clear we will still be the leader of this country and we will account to this country,” Lamola said.
Anyone who thought differently was in for a surprise, particularly the IFP, as the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party was nibbling at its support in KwaZulu-Natal.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola addresses The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)
Unlike the IFP and DA, the ANC was not in an “unfriendly” and “untrusting” relationship, said Lamola, pointing out how Mashaba left the DA.
“They can’t even agree who will be the leader. You can’t have a coalition like this leading the country... They have to be functionalist,” Lamola said, appealing for all South Africans to pitch in to ensure the country’s future.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024
Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie butted in to take the conversation back to ex-president Jacob Zuma — now suspended from the ANC — and the political party for which he’s the poster face, MK.
Gayton McKenzie during The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)
The IFP, DA and ActionSA were pretending they were not worried about Zuma and the MK party, but they were strategising how to counter them, McKenzie said. “Jacob Zuma is going to be the wrecking ball of this election.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: DA and Zuma’s MK party big winners; ANC and EFF flop, new Brenthurst survey finds
It got heated as the discussion turned to the revolving door in coalitions at local government level, with the DA, ActionSA and the PA making sharp comments about each others’ conduct in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
“Here’s your coalition government,” quipped Lamola, to laughter from the audience.
But IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa stood up for the MPC — and to reassure the audience the sharp exchanges they had seen between members of the MPS were an exception.
Velenkosini Hlabisa during The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)
“We have worked a lot since May last year to get agreement... We can’t afford a coalition government that will fight against each other instead of dealing with the challenges of South Africa.”
Back to a more serious tone, Steenhuisen was asked about the DA’s stance on the Gaza-Israel war — effectively whether Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza.
With the United Nations’ International Court of Justice considering South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, it was necessary to see the process through, the DA leader said, adding that did not mean having to wait to agree that what is happening must stop now.
“I think Ramadan offers us the best opportunity to make this clarion call to get the humanitarian [aid] in there and look for mature leadership in Palestine and Israel.”
Steenhuisen said South Africa’s democratic transition was an example to follow. The bombing of Gaza was not going to get the hostages released nor Israel’s border secured, but negotiations would.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Middle East crisis news hub
It was a more nuanced stance than that of five months ago. The DA, seen as pro-Israel, is understood to have lost just under two percentage points in its voting support over its stance on the Gaza-Israel war.
Concerns were expressed over the recent leak of political party candidates lists, for which the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has taken responsibility. Lamola said it was “the ANC lists” that were leaked. Steenhuisen shot back, “The DA lists were leaked Thursday,” saying this showed the “IEC is failing at the first hurdle”.
While Steenhuisen swatted away the furore over the DA letter asking for outside election observers, Lamola pointed out the IEC had run elections with stringent adherence to the regulations. South Africa traditionally has had independent election observers registered by the IEC, Lamola said.
Amid the repeated touts for votes — on the one hand for the MPC, and on the other for the governing ANC — the PA seemed to want a return to the apartheid dompas black South Africans were forced to carry, but this time with a xenophobic twist.
“You must carry documents [like passports]... I don’t care what nickname we give those documents,” McKenzie replied to a question about what such documents should be called.
But politicians are politicians and at the end of a heavy, sometimes loud debate, all smiled and shook hands.
It’s a foretaste of what’s to come over the next 2½ months of electioneering until the 29 May elections. DM