Independent Democrats

Independent Democrats
Independent Democrats
President	Patricia de Lille
Secretary-General	Haniff Hoosen
Chairperson	Mervyn Cirota
Founder	Patricia de Lille
Founded	21 June 2003
Dissolved	2014
Merged into	Democratic Alliance
Headquarters	Cape Town, Western Cape
Youth wing	Young Independent Democrats
Ideology	Social liberalism; Populism
Political position	Centre
Colours	Orange
Slogan	Be a Part of the Solution
	Politics of South Africa; Political parties; Elections;

The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation.^[1] The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption, with a mixture of liberal principles and strategies for improving equity.^{[citation needed]} The party's strongholds were the Northern and Western Cape.

On 15 August 2010, the party announced plans to merge with the larger Democratic Alliance as part of a plan to challenge the governing African National Congress (ANC).^[2] The party disbanded as a separate political organization in 2014.

2009 election manifesto

Ahead of the national elections in 2009, the ID launched a manifesto promising that, if elected to power, they would increase the staffing of the South African Police Service to 200,000, enlist 5,000 caseworkers to operate in crime-stricken communities, make South Africa a leader in renewable energy and finance a minimum social grant by taxing luxury goods, tobacco and alcohol. In addition they vowed that an "ID government would fire a minister whose department received a qualified audit two years in a row."^[3]

Merger with DA

In 2010, then-ID leader Patricia de Lille formalized an agreement to merge with the Democratic Alliance. The two parties merged by 2014. Due to this, the ID did not contest the 2011 local elections as a separate entity, instead fielding its candidates on the DA's ballots. In February 2012, the-then Leader of the Official Opposition, Lindiwe Mazibuko, reshuffled her shadow cabinet, which included appointing members of the ID to shadow portfolios for the first time.^[4] This was seen as a move towards strengthening the co-operation between the two parties heading towards the completion of the merger.

Election results

National elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats
2009	162,915	0.92	4
2004	269,765	1.70	7

Municipal elections

Election	Votes	%
2006	530,912	2.0%

References

^ "Floor Crossing at a Glance (pdf)". Idasa. 21 June 2004. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2006.
^ [1], Andrew Harding, 15 August 2010, "South African opposition parties to merge"
^ Quoted in Hartley 2009.
^ "DA's Athol Trollip gets Mazibuko's old portfolio | City Press". City Press. South Africa. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2022.

General

Hartley, Aziz. "ID releases election manifesto." Cape Times, 2 February 2009 in literature: 4.

External links

Independent Democrats (official site)

[idasa2004-1] "Floor Crossing at a Glance (pdf)". Idasa. 21 June 2004. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2006.

[2] [1], Andrew Harding, 15 August 2010, "South African opposition parties to merge"

[3] Quoted in Hartley 2009.

[4] "DA's Athol Trollip gets Mazibuko's old portfolio | City Press". City Press. South Africa. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2022.

[1]