Patriotic Alliance

This article is about the South African political party. For other uses, see Patriotic Alliance (disambiguation).

Patriotic Alliance
AbbreviationPA
PresidentGayton McKenzie
ChairpersonMarlon Daniels
Secretary-GeneralChinelle Stevens
Deputy PresidentKenny Kunene
Founded15 November 2013 (2013-11-15)
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing[11] to far-right[15]
Colours  Green
SloganOns Baiza Nie / The Last Hope
National Assembly seats
9 / 400
Website
www.mypa.org.za

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is a far-right political party in South Africa, formed in November 2013 by, among others, businessmen and convicted criminals Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene.[16][17][18][19] Since 2024, it is a part of the current South African government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance and other parties.

The party at its launch stated that it intended to contest the 2014 national and provincial elections in South Africa, with a particular focus on the Western Cape province, although it would also attempt to have a particular presence in the Free State, Gauteng, Northern Cape and North West. On March 12, 2013, the party paid deposit fees to the Independent Electoral Commission to contest nationally and in four provinces on May 7, 2014.[20] The party has described itself as a credible alternative to both the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is the ruling party in the Western Cape, and the African National Congress, which governs the rest of the country.[21][22] These parties have each, in turn, dismissed the PA as a credible threat and have said that in their view the party would disappear from the political landscape and not make a "significant contribution to the political discourse", which had proven to be the case with "smaller parties" in South Africa's past.[23]

The party failed to win any seats in its first national and provincial elections in 2014, garnering just 0.07% of the national vote, with its best showing 0.4% in the Western Cape. The party had hoped to force a coalition in the Western Cape,[24] but the DA's share of the vote in fact grew after the election.[25]

The PA gained its first elected representatives in the 2016 municipal elections. Although the party only received 0.06% of the national vote, it picked up seats in the metropolitan municipalities of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, aided in part by the low threshold for representation in these councils. It also picked up a seat in Tokologo Local Municipality with a strong 10% of the vote.

The party made a breakthrough in the 2021 municipal elections, with big gains in the Western Cape and some wards in Gauteng. It currently has 85 Council seats throughout the country.

PA won nine seats in the Parliament (National Assembly) with 2.06% of the vote in the 2024 general election.[26]

In June 2024, Patriotic Alliance agreed to join the ANC-led government of national unity (GNU).[27] The leader of the PA, Gayton McKenzie, became minister of sports, arts and culture in the new Cabinet.[28]

  1. ^ Bauer, Nickolaus (2024). South Africa's Easy Election Guide: Who To Vote For in 2024. Emerging Scholars Initiative Press. doi:10.35293/esi.30. ISBN 978-0-7961-4410-2.
  2. ^ Bauer, Nickolaus (27 May 2024). "South Africa Elections: Meet the parties". The Africa Report. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  3. ^ Mutsila, Lerato; Pongweni, Takudzwa (11 June 2024). "Swing towards right-wing populism — it's up to the people to take a stand". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  4. ^ Hunter, Qaanitah (28 June 2024). "Tension and stand-offs as South Africa struggles to launch coalition gov't". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  5. ^ [3][4]
  6. ^ Fogel, Benjamin (28 May 2024). "South Africa's Election Offers a Miserable Choice". Jacobin. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  7. ^ Haffajee, Ferial (12 June 2024). "The centre starts to hold as government of national unity takes shape". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  8. ^ [6][7]
  9. ^ Gbadamosi, Nosmot (24 July 2024). "Can South Africa's Center Hold?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  10. ^ "South Africa unity government: A new political era dawns". DW. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  11. ^ [9][10]
  12. ^ Davis, Rebecca (10 June 2024). "What does 'progressive' mean in the coalition talks?". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  13. ^ Nantulya, Paul (7 June 2024). "South Africa's Seismic Political Shift". Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  14. ^ "South Africa's ANC wants a national unity government: What is it?". Al Jazeera. 7 June 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  15. ^ [12][13][14]
  16. ^ Dolley, Caryn (30 August 2021). "ROAD TO LOCAL ELECTIONS: What do a gangster, a pastor and sushi have in common? The Patriotic Alliance". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  17. ^ "Kenny Kunene registers Patriotic Alliance Party with IEC". Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  18. ^ "Patriotic Alliance founder says criminal record should not affect voters". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  19. ^ Khumalo, Juniour. "Patriotic Alliance's Gayton McKenzie accused of lies, deceit by residents of his former home town". News24. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  20. ^ "'Sushi King' hands in candidate list". News24. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  21. ^ "Patriotic Alliance aims to unseat DA". IOL News. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  22. ^ Ackroyd, Bianca. "Kunene launches party, targets voters". enca.com. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  23. ^ "Patriotic Alliance 'of little significance' in Western Cape". bdlive.co.za. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  24. ^ "Patriotic Alliance News: PA's post-election plans". Patriotic Alliance News. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  25. ^ "South Africa election results 2014". timeslive.co.za. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  26. ^ "Election Results and Allocation of Seats in Parliament (National Assembly) and Provincial Legislatures: 2024". pmg.org.za. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  27. ^ "ANC WELCOMES POLITICAL PARTIES TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY – ANC".
  28. ^ "Gayton McKenzie - from ex-gangster to South Africa's sports and arts minister". www.bbc.com.