South Africans will have the luxury to pick and choose from 162 political parties that have registered for the voters roll for this year’s general elections.
The names of the contesting parties were released earlier this week after registration closed on Monday, and while the usual suspects like the ANC, DA, EFF and Cope are there, voters will also see a host of new and unusual names on the role.
It appears aspirant politicians are doing everything in their power to woo voters’, from appealing to their sense of right and wrong, to religion, economics and geography.
Take the Appropriate Mutual Understanding Patriotic Party (Amupapa) for example. It’s clear party leaders want no “misunderstanding”.
Many have also played on people’s religious sensibilities, like the Heavenly Economic And Political Freedom Programme (HEPFP) and God’s People’s Party (GPP).
There’s also a sense of optimism on the roll, as displayed by Good and the All Things Are Possible (ATAP) parties.
Meanwhile, some organisations have decided to be as inclusive as possible, like the Community Of South Africa (CSA), the International Party (INTP) and the African Content Movement (ACM), which to some might sound like you need to go to the loo.
Everyone knows a catchy name gets you halfway there when it comes to politics, as the founders of A4One (Alliance For One Nation) and BRA (Better Residents Association) probably realised.
But the His Lordship To Save And Lead Party, or His L Ship for short, may have misjudged this one.
With rising fuel costs, high unemployment and threats of load shedding, the majority of South Africans have had to tighten their belts, a fact surely not lost upon the Abolition Of Income Tax And Usury Party (AITUP), the African Economic Transformers (AET), and the Justice And Employment Party, whose acronym JEP might, unfortunately, raise eyebrows on the Cape Flats.
Other unusual party names include the ICT Test Party, African Health Assurance, the Bolsheviks Party Of South Africa (BPSA) and the Civic Warriors Of Maruleng.
The elections take place on 8 May 2019.