Opposition parties welcome 29 May elections date announcement

JOHANNESBURG - Opposition parties have welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of an election date, with some hailing it as a crucial step in the countdown towards historic polls. 
 
The president’s office announced that the country would hold its seventh democratic elections on 29 May – it also said he’d consulted with premiers across all nine provinces on their state of readiness.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it was meticulously prepared for the looming national and provincial polls, with its federal leader, John Steenhuisen, adding that the elections presented the country with an opportunity to rescue itself from the governing African National Congress (ANC). 
 
"This election is a turning point for South Africa, and it comes at a time when our nation needs it the most in three decades. The DA is fully prepared for the challenge ahead, and we are all systems go for the May 29 date. The DA is ready to fight this election so that South Africa can win."

Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), in noting the development, said its national campaign committee would now streamline all its plans and programmes to drum up support for the organisation.

Its national spokesperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said the party had already dubbed 29 May as a day of freedom for the country.

"To finally free itself from the clutches of an ANC government that has only delivered poverty, unemployment, underdevelopment and widespread corruption. The IFP stands ready for this election." 
 
First-time contender in the general elections, ActionSA, has spent the past two years preparing for the polls – it said that 29 May signalled the beginning of change for the country.
 
Its national chairperson, Micheal Beaumount, said it received the announcement from the president with purpose.
 
"ActionSA has resolved to run a positive campaign, which will be a departure from a political establishment that has failed South Africans by focusing on one another more than it is focused on the crisis that has developed under their time in Parliament. ActionSA’s campaign will strive to show all South Africans that we can fix South Africa, but this work can only begin once the ANC has been removed from office."