Good (political party)

Good is a South African political party that was formed in December 2018.[3] It is led by its founder Patricia de Lille, current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and former Mayor of Cape Town. The party's policies are predominantly left-wing and its platform is premised on social democracy, environmentalism, anti-racism and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. The party's stronghold is the Western Cape and mainly draws support from the Coloured community.[4][5]

This article is about the South African political party. For the Turkish political party, see İyi Party.
Good
LeaderPatricia de Lille
ChairpersonVacant[1]
Secretary-GeneralBrett Herron
Deputy National ChairpersonBongani Madikane
Deputy Secretary-GeneralLehlohonono Mtshali
National TreasurerVacant[2]
National OrganiserShaun August
Deputy National OrganiserVivien Laverge
Marius Gysman
FounderPatricia de Lille
Founded2 December 2018 (2018-12-02)
Split fromDemocratic Alliance
IdeologySocial democracy
Environmentalism
Anti-racism
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment
Political positionCentre-left
ColoursOrange  
Slogan"South Africa Needs Good"
National Assembly seats
2 / 400
NCOP seats
0 / 90
Provincial Legislatures
1 / 430
Website
www.forgood.org.za
A GOOD party campaign bus in Cape Town during the 2019 South African general election.

The party holds two seats in the National Assembly of South Africa, while it also has one seat in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.[6] In May 2019, De Lille was the only opposition member appointed to serve in the cabinet of South Africa. She had stated that Good would remain an opposition party.[7]

Formation
Patricia de Lille, leader and founding member of the party

Patricia de Lille is a South African politician. She was elected to the National Assembly as a Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) member in 1994. She held many leadership positions in the party. During the 2003 floor-crossing period, she broke away from PAC and formed the Independent Democrats (ID).[8] The party was the first political party in South Africa to be led by a woman that contested elections and won seats.[9] In 2010, after meetings between the Democratic Alliance Federal Executive and the Independent Democrats Executive, it was announced that the ID would merge with the Democratic Alliance (DA).[10] Members of the Independent Democrats held party dual membership. The ID was officially dissolved after the 2014 general elections.[11]

In March 2011, De Lille was selected by the Democratic Alliance to be the party's mayoral candidate in Cape Town. She was subsequently elected Mayor of Cape Town in May 2011.[12][13] She served until October 2018.[14] During the last months of her mayoral career, the Democratic Alliance accused Lille of covering up corruption in the municipality. She strongly denied these allegations. When De Lille resigned as mayor, she also resigned as a member of the Democratic Alliance, citing that the party had been abusive towards her.[15] DA Chief Whip Shaun August and many other councillors, including Mayoral Committee Member for Transport Brett Herron, resigned their positions in protest to the removal of De Lille. They were all members of the previous Independent Democrats.[16] It was speculated that De Lille would revive the Independent Democrats and that it would be the "kingmaker" in the 2019 provincial election.[17]

On 18 November 2018, Patricia de Lille launched the "For Good" political movement and website.[18]

On 2 December 2018, De Lille announced the formation of the "Good" political party in Houghton Estate, a suburb of Johannesburg.[19][20]

Leadership

Patricia de Lille has said that the party's official leadership will be elected after the 2019 elections. The party is currently managed by interim leaders. The National Leadership Committee consists of 36 members.[21] The interim leadership was announced in January 2019 and is as follows:

PositionName
LeaderPatricia De Lille
National ChairpersonVacant[1]
Deputy National ChairpersonVacant
Secretary-GeneralBrett Herron
Deputy Secretary-GeneralLehlohonono Mtshali
National TreasurerVacant[2]
National OrganiserShaun August
Deputy National OrganiserVivien Laverge
Deputy National OrganiserMarius Gysman
Policy OfficerMark Rountree

Election campaign

At the launch of the political party, De Lille said that the manifesto of the party and premier candidates would be announced in early 2019. The party is registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and contested the 2019 national and provincial elections in all of the South African provinces.[3]

On 5 February 2019, the party launched its manifesto. The party's manifesto focused on key issues, such as the reduction of the size of the national cabinet, the prosecution of corrupt individuals and the scrapping of the controversial e-tolls in Gauteng.[22]

Election results

The party gained two seats in the National Assembly of South Africa and one seat in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.[4] The two parliamentary seats were filled by De Lille and Shaun August, while the provincial parliament seat was filled by Brett Herron.[6] De Lille has subsequently accepted the position of Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure in the cabinet of South Africa but has stated that Good will remain an opposition party.[23][7]

On 17 July 2019, Good contested its first municipal by-election in the George Local Municipality.[24] The party's candidate was Mercia Draghoender. Draghoender defected from the DA to Good. She had previously served as a ward councillor and the mayor of the municipality. The media speculated that this election would be an upset since Draghoender had good name recognition.[24] The African National Congress also had a good chance of winning this election due to vote splitting. The DA ended up retaining the ward but with a majority of only eight votes. Good was in second place with the ANC in third out of several parties that contested the by-election.[24][25]

The party won its first local government ward in a by-election in November 2020, taking a ward in George from the Democratic Alliance.[26]

National Assembly
Election Total votes Share of vote Seats +/– Government
2019 70,408 0.40%
2 / 400
 – in opposition

National Council of Provinces
Election[27] Total # of
seats won		 +/–
2019
0 / 400
 0

Provincial elections
Election[28] Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng Kwazulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North-West Northern Cape Western Cape
%Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats %Seats
2019 0.240/63 0.080/30 0.200/73 0.110/80 0.030/49 0.060/30 0.120/33 0.830/30 3.011/42

References
  1. Good's national chairperson resigns, News24, 21 May 2019. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  2. GOOD treasurer-general quits, raises questions about party’s finances, The South African, 16 August 2019. Retrieved on 16 August 2019.
  3. Patricia de Lille names her party 'Good'. Retrieved on 2018-12-03.
  4. De Lille’s GOOD party makes its mark in the Western Cape. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  5. Cope and GOOD bid for voters tired of major parties and old-style politics, The Daily Maverick, 22 January 2019. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  6. De Lille set to have a GOOD time in Parliament. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  7. GOOD welcomes Minister De Lille, Mail & Guardian, 29 May 2019. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  8. Independent Democrats benefits from floorcrossing rule, South African History Online. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  9. Patricia de Lille, South African History Online. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  10. Democratic Alliance to absorb Independent Democrats, TimesLIVE. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  11. ""Every vote counts," – GOOD leader Patricia de Lille grateful for support". The South African. 9 May 2019. De Lille previously led the Independent Democrats before merging with the DA and being officially dissolved as a separate political party in 2014, which helped secure the DA’s control of the Western Cape.
  12. De Lille tipped to become mayor, Mail & Guardian, 21 January 2011. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  13. De Lille DA's Cape Town mayor candidate, News24, 14 March 2011. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  14. De Lille resigns as Cape Town mayor, quits DA, News24, 31 October 2018. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  15. It wasn't going to change - De Lille reflects on 'abusive' DA city breakup. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  16. DA Cape Town chief whip resigns in support of De Lille, News24, 25 January 2018. Retrieved on 2018-12-03.
  17. Felix, Jason. Independent Democrats to rise again, IOL, 29 October 2018. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  18. De Lille announces new party to contest 2019 elections.Retrieved on 2018-12-03.
  19. De Lille: Good party's leadership to be elected after the 2019 polls. Retrieved on 2018-12-03.
  20. Herron’s all GOOD: Former CT councillor joins De Lille’s party, Mail & Guardian, 3 December 2018. Retrieved on 10 August 2019.
  21. De Lille's GOOD party constitutes interim national leadership. Retrieved on 21 January 2019.
  22. De Lille launches Good manifesto. Retrieved on 16 February 2019.
  23. Fisher, Shamiela. "Good will remain opposition party, despite De Lille appointment as minister". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  24. DA deny GOOD by eight votes in George. Retrieved on 8 August 2019.
  25. DA retains George seat, beats Good Party by nine votes,
  26. Payne, Suné (2020-11-12). "BY-ELECTION SUPER WEDNESDAY: Western Cape results: DA holds eight wards, but gets a wake-up call with dip in support". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  27. https://www.elections.org.za/NPEDashboard/app/dashboard.html
  28. "Results Dashboard". www.elections.org.za. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
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