The Al-Jama-ah political party are set to join with the African Muslim Party (AMP) to contest the upcoming general elections, in the hopes of acquiring a seat in parliament. The announcement was made at the parties election manifesto launch at the weekend, and means there will be only one Muslim party in the Western Cape contesting the provincial and national elections. Al-Jama-ah was established in 2007 and subsequently contested in the 2009 general elections, but failed to win any seats. During the 2011 municipal elections, the party managed to acquire a seat in the Cape Town City Council as well as the Gauteng City Council. The party’s national director Imraahn Mukaddam said, despite the alliance, the AMP and Al-Jama-ah would still remain independent, but would contest the elections under the Al-Jama-ah umbrella. He acknowledged the alliance would be similar to what was initially planned for the DA/Agang merger; however the relationship between the parties would be of a more permanent nature. “We are looking at building at the unity, and building a united voice, to ensure Muslims are not faced with a dilemma of having to choose between the two parties,” he explained. As a result of the coalition, the AMP’s Western Cape leader Dr. Wasfie Hassiem would take the number one spot on the provincial party list in the Western Cape. Mukaddam said the party was trying to break free of its Muslim specific identity, which is what contributed to the party’s slogan, ‘a voice for all communities’. He said despite focusing on the issues facing the Muslim community, the party also wanted to address broader issues as well. “The broader issues we want to address affect the community much more. We are finding there are numerous issues where Al-Jama-ah can contribute to the debate,” he said. Mukaddam added the party had a number of non-Muslims on its nomination list as well, and had received great support amongst non-Muslims in the Strandfontein by-elections. Regarding the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) decision to go to court over what they deemed unfair registration costs, Mukaddam said the party supported the EFF’s case. He said they believed the registration fees were a deterrent for the party’s hopes of contesting all nine provincial elections. “We simply cannot contest all nine provinces because of high registration costs. On the national elections side, we are still hoping to raise enough money by Wednesday to register for the election.” The party was also particularly critical over the issue of foreign donor funding. In a statement issued by Al-Jama-ah, they said the influence exerted on political parties by these donors was ‘a direct attack on the Republic of South Africa’s sovereignty’. “The recent revelations of a known Zionist Israeli lobbyist manipulating political alliances and dictating the terms to donor funding recipients, explains why certain parties have particularly pro-Israel positions which influences the continued oppression and occupation of Palestine and its people directly.” “This massive injection of foreign donor funding further undermines the democratic process and makes it virtually impossible for emerging political parties like al-Jama-ah to compete,” read the statement. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 07:28:23 +0000
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