The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is a South African political party, formed in November 2013 by, among others, motivational speaker, author and businessman Gayton McKenzie and businessman and socialite Kenny Kunene.
The party at its announcement 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. On its official website and elsewhere, 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. 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.
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 currently has 5 councillors.
The PA’s election aims are set out in such a way that they will enjoy mass support, while not losing sight of the most visionary concepts of leadership that South Africa so desperately requires.
The PA therefore undertakes to reinvigorate the system that governs the lives of all South
Africans and to do it in such a way that a new social structure emerges that makes a better
life more accessible for all.
The party respects the South African Constitution and undertakes to uphold the law of the Republic of South Africa, with the acceptance that the Constitution captures the aspirations and rights of the South African electorate.
The PA recognises the freedoms listed in our Constitution, which include the rights of minority groups such as the Khoisan groups, as well as various minority groups who may be subject to unfair discrimination, extending to them the full range of rights that everyone who falls into the broad category of South African citizen must always be assured of. The structure of South African society, however, still overwhelmingly supports those who come from advantaged backgrounds, a legacy of our racially divisive past. The PA makes a commitment to programmes that will address and correct this imbalance.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) is a nonracial, non-sexist and democratic political party organising support across South Africa.
The PA positions itself as a champion of the people, with the understanding that while its principles may overlap with those of other parties, the PA is the political alternative that will bring tangible delivery of change in this lifetime for the majority of South Africans.
The PA is an economically centrist party that understands that economic growth is dependent on free-market conditions, but that rampant capitalism encourages only greed and the exploitation of the poor. Therefore, the PA will always identify with the masses so that economic emancipation for the disadvantaged is realised. But the PA will address this growing need by using sound principles of how to grow and manage a flourishing economy that rewards and encourages hard work, innovation and excellence, while creating opportunities for more people to express themselves in society and realise their potential.
The PA is also a party with a conscience and is a champion of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. It will therefore promote state welfare opportunities, including ways that do this in revolutionary and innovative ways, to ensure that hunger, exploitation and general socioeconomic suffering is defeated.
The PA supports the economic empowerment of the poor and will develop and promote policies and actions that lead to truly broad-based economic empowerment, with the understanding that those members of society who are part of the formerly disadvantaged categories of persons designated by apartheid policy stand to gain the most from such empowerment. The PA’s focus is broad and it aims to support and uplift the poor, who would otherwise drift into hopelessness if not for the hope offered by the PA and its plans, which require strong democratic mass support to succeed. Every single citizen stands to be empowered by the brave and revolutionary empowerment policies that the PA has developed.
The PA will consistently defend the rights of women, children and people with disabilities.
The PA believes that the majority of South Africans wish to be contributing members of
society, who each help to build and create a better country – but they need a platform on
which to make that happen. The PA intends to set up the platform, while creating a higher
socioeconomic base for all, which makes that possible and a lived reality.
The PA supports the economic empowerment of the poor and will develop and promote policies and actions that lead to truly broad-based economic empowerment, with the understanding that those members of society who are part of the formerly disadvantaged categories of persons designated by apartheid policy stand to gain the most from such empowerment.
All rights reserved. Patriotic Alliance 2020
