2019 Elections - Dagga Party Intends Contending
Yesterday, Jacaranda FM reported that the Dagga Party has announced that they will be contending for as much as 300 seats in Parliament in the 2019 National Elections. The National Assembly was first elected in South Africa's first non-racial election in 1994 with the African National Congress (ANC) winning 252 of the 400 seats. The National Party (NP), the previous governing party, won 82 seats, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won 43. So, this will be no small task for Jeremy Acton, the leader of the Dagga Party, who still has no apparent Executive Committee, no active registered Constituencies outside of his own, and an incomplete Constitution.
Public interest in the party has spiked since the 31 March 2017 Western Cape High Court ruling that legislation in SA, regarding Cannabis prohibition, is unconstitutional; ordering Parliament to ratify the laws within 24 months.
Lately, this is Mr. Acton's "claim to fame", however, if one looks more closely at the judgement, Judge Denis Davis makes a point of stating in the Introduction:
"[6] ... much of the voluminous documentation provided, in particular by Mr. Acton, proved of little value to the determination of this application."
The cannabis case in the WCHC is not his only claim, and this is not the first time we've heard of the Dagga Party setting their sites on Parliament. In May 2013 it was reported that: "'Jeremy Acton was working to ensure that his party garnered the 500 signatures required to contest the elections.' - the Times". He was still 200 names short and did not have a cent in the bank."
With only 3 days before the deadline for parties to pay their deposits, the Dagga Party appealed to the public on social media for donations, to no avail.
In 2014, to contend in the National Elections, parties had to pay R200 000 plus
R45 000 for each province. Suffice to say, the Dagga Party did not make it onto the ballot paper.
In 2019, contending for seats in Parliament won't be any cheaper or easier with many of the 80+ parties having already submitted their candidate lists and begun campaigning, in some cases, more than a year ago.
On top of the challenges the Dagga Party will face in meeting the deadlines on the election calendar, the founding AGM of the Human Rights Front of South Africa is set to take place in Pretoria over the first weekend of September 2017 and; with similar philosophies to the Dagga Party, the HRF seems likely to glean much of their support and membership from those supporters who are disgruntled by the administrative shortfalls of the Dagga Party over the years.
The introduction of the HRF into SA politics will present the Dagga Party with much needed healthy competition in garnering the support of South Africa's so-called Cannabis Culture and will hopefully inspire a rejuvenation of the Dagga Party platform's administration and efforts to take part in local as well as national elections, for the good of all South Africans.
