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(Top) 1 Parliamentary parties 2 Other parties with representation 3 Extra-parliamentary parties 4 Defunct parties 5 Defunct parties 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

List of political parties in South Africa

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Politics of South Africa
This article is part of a series on the

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This is a list of political parties in South Africa. South Africa is a democratic but one-party dominant state with the African National Congress as the governing party. Other parties such as the Democratic Alliance govern provinces and municipalities, with some in coalitions with smaller parties.

Parliamentary parties[edit]

	Abbr.	Leader	Est.	Main Ideologies	National Assembly	NCOP	Provincial legislatures	Municipal council seats
African National Congress	ANC	Cyril Ramaphosa	1912	African nationalism Social democracy	159 / 400	0 / 90	224 / 487	4,549 / 8,794
Democratic Alliance	DA	John Steenhuisen	2000	Liberalism Federalism	87 / 400	0 / 90	97 / 487	1,494 / 8,794
uMkhonto weSizwe	MK	Jacob Zuma	2023	Zulu nationalism Socialism	58 / 400	0 / 90	58 / 487	0 / 8,794
Economic Freedom Fighters	EFF	Julius Malema	2013	Communism Pan-Africanism	39 / 400	0 / 90	54 / 487	982 / 8,794
Inkatha Freedom Party	IFP	Velenkosini Hlabisa	1975	Conservatism Constitutional monarchism	17 / 400	0 / 90	16 / 487	544 / 8,794
Patriotic Alliance	PA	Gayton McKenzie	2013	Right-wing populism	9 / 400	0 / 90	10 / 487	85 / 8,794
Freedom Front Plus	VF+	Pieter Groenewald	1994	Conservatism Afrikaner interests	6 / 400	0 / 90	9 / 487	221 / 8,794
ActionSA	ACTIONSA	Herman Mashaba	2020	Classical liberalism Libertarianism	6 / 400	0 / 90	5 / 487	90 / 8,974
African Christian Democratic Party	ACDP	Kenneth Meshoe	1993	Christian democracy Social conservatism	3 / 400	0 / 90	2 / 487	49 / 8,794
United Democratic Movement	UDM	Bantu Holomisa	1997	Social democracy	3 / 400	0 / 90	3 / 487	51 / 8,794
Rise Mzansi	RISE	Songezo Zibi	2023	Third Way	2 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	0 / 8,794
Build One South Africa	BOSA	Mmusi Maimane	2022	Liberalism	2 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	0 / 8,794
African Transformation Movement	ATM	Vuyolwethu Zungula	2018	Christian democracy Conservatism	2 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	53 / 8,794
Al Jama-ah	ALJAMA	Ganief Hendricks	2007	Islamic democracy	2 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	12 / 8,794
National Coloured Congress	CCC	Fadiel Adams	2020	Localism Cape Independence	2 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	8 / 8,794
Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	PAC	Mzwanele Nyhontso	1959	African socialism Black nationalism	1 / 400	0 / 90	0 / 487	21 / 8,794
United Africans Transformation	UAT	Wonder Mahlatsi	2022	Pan-Africanism Socialism	1 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	0 / 8,794
Good	GOOD	Patricia de Lille	2018	Social liberalism	1 / 400	0 / 90	1 / 487	45 / 8,794

Other parties with representation[edit]

	Abbrev.	Leader	Founded	Main Ideologies	Municipal council seats
National Freedom Party	NFP	Ivan Rowan Barnes	2011	Egalitarianism Social democracy	52 / 8,794
African Independent Congress	AIC	Mandla Galo	2005	Social conservatism	43 / 8,794
Forum for Service Delivery	F4SD	Mbahare Johannes Kekana	2015		32 / 8,646
Abantu Batho Congress	ABC	Philani Mavundla	2021		25 / 8,794
MAP16 Civic Movement	MAP16		2018		20 / 8,794
Congress of the People	COPE	Mosiuoa Lekota	2008	Social democracy Social liberalism	13 / 8,794
Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa	ICOSA	Jeffrey Donson	2006		8 / 8,794
African People's Convention	APC	Themba Godi	2007	African nationalism Pan-Africanism	14 / 8,794
African People's Movement	APEMO	Vikizitha Mlotshwa			^[1]
United Christian Democratic Party	UCDP	Isaac Sipho Mfundisi	1997	Christian democracy Federalism	6 / 8,794
Team Sugar South Africa	TSSA	Musa Thwala	2019		7 / 8,794
Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners English: Concerned Local Residents	PBI	Isaac Sipho Mfundisi	2016	Anti-corruption	6 / 8,794
Bolsheviks Party of South Africa	BPSA	Fanie Mogotji	2016	Marxism–Leninism	4 / 8,794
United Independent Movement	UIM	Neil de Beer	2020	Centrism	4 / 8,794
African Democratic Change	ADeC	Visvin Reddy	2017	Anti-corruption	3 / 8,794
Better Residents Association	BRA	Delta Mokoena (imprisoned)	2011	Localism	3 / 8,794
Azanian People's Organisation	AZAPO	Strike Thokoane	1978	Black Consciousness Socialism	2 / 8,794
Democratic Liberal Congress	DLC	Patrick Pillay	2016	Liberalism Environmentalism	2 / 8,794
International Revelation Congress	IRC	Te Mammba^[2]	2013	Social conservatism Social welfare	2 / 8,794
Power of Africans Unity	PAU	Julius Nsingwane	2016		2 / 8,794
South African Maintenance and Estate Beneficiaries Association	SAMEBA	Makgorometse Gift Makhaba	2014		2 / 8,794
Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats	AASD	Pappie Mokoena	2019	Social democracy Pan-Africanism	2 / 8,794
Africa Restoration Alliance	ARA	Jerome Swartz	2020		2 / 8,794
Minority Front	MF	Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi	1993	Indian interests	1 / 8,794
People's Revolutionary Movement	PRM	Nhlanhla Buthelezi	2016	Social conservatism National conservatism	1 / 8,794
Cape Independence Party	CAPEXIT	Jack Miller	2007	Cape Independence Direct democracy	1 / 8,794
National People's Front	NAPF	Bheki Gumbi	2018		1 / 8,794

Extra-parliamentary parties[edit]

#Hope4SA

Africa Muslim Party (AMP)

African Change Academy

African Christian Alliance (ACA)^[3]

African Congress for Transformation

uMkhonto We Sizwe Party

African Content Movement (ACM)

African Covenant (ACO)

African Mantungwa Community (AC)

African Renaissance Unity (ARU)

African Security Congress (ASC)

Afrikaner Volksparty^[4]

Agang South Africa

All Things Are Possible

Alliance for Transformation for All (ATA)

Alliance of Citizens for Change (ACC)

Arise SA

Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB)

Black First Land First (BLF)

Cape Muslim Congress (CMC)

Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP)

CHANGE (CHANGE)^[5]

Christian Democratic Party (CDP)

Civic Warriors of Maruleng (CWM)

Compatriots of South Africa (CSA)

Dabalorivhuwa Patriotic Front (DPF)

Dagga Party (IQELA LE)^[6]

Democratic Independent Party (DI)

Dikwankwetla Party (DPSA)

Economic Emancipation Forum (EEF)

ECOPEACE Party (ECOPEACE)

Federal Party SA (FPSA)^[7]

Free Democrats (FREE DEM)

Gazankulu Liberation Congress (GLC)

Green Party of South Africa (GPSA) ^[8]

Karoo Gemeenskap Party (KGP)

Keep It Straight and Simple Party (KISS Party)

Kingdom Governance Movement

Land Party (LAND)

National Conservative Party of South Africa (NKP)

National Party South Africa (NP)

National People's Ambassadors (NPA)

National Religious Freedom Party (NRFP)

New South Africa Party

Operation Dudula

The Organic Humanity Movement (OHM)^[9]

Pan Africanist Movement (PAM)

Peace and Justice Congress (PJC)

People's Movement for Change (PMC)

Referendum Party (RP)

Socialist Green Coalition (SGC)^[10]

Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP)

South African Communist Party (SACP) – part of the ANC-led "Tripartite Alliance"

South African National Congress of Traditional Authorities (SANCOTA)

South African Political Party (SAPP)

South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA)

Spectrum National Party (SNP)

Sterkspruit Civic Association (SCA)

The Peoples Independent Civic Organisation (TPICO)

True Freedom Party^[11]

Truly Alliance (TA)^[12]

United Congress (UNICO)

Uniting People First

Us the People (US)^[13]

Women Forward (WF)^[14]

Workers and Socialist Party (WASP)

Xiluva

Ximoko Party (XP)

Defunct parties[edit]

Defunct Parliamentary Parties (1994 – Present)
	Abbrev.	Founded	Dissolved	Main Ideologies	Peak MPs (year)
Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging English: Afrikaner Unity Movement	AEB	1998	2003	Afrikaner nationalism Conservatism	1 (1999)
Democratic Party Afrikaans: Demokratiese Party	DP	1989	2000	Conservative liberalism Economic liberalism	38 (1999)
Federal Alliance Afrikaans: Federale Alliansie	FA	1998	2007	Conservatism Libertarianism	2 (1999)
Independent Democrats	ID	2003	2014	Populism Social liberalism	7 (2004)
National Party Afrikaans: Nasionale Party	NP	1914	1997	Christian democracy Conservative liberalism	82 (1994)
New National Party Afrikaans: Nuwe Nasionale Party	NNP	1997	2005	Civic nationalism Conservatism	28 (1999)

Defunct Parliamentary Parties (1958–1994)
	Abbrev.	Founded	Dissolved	Main Ideologies
Conservative Party Afrikaans: Konserwatiewe Party	KP	1982	2004	Afrikaner nationalism Social conservatism
Labour Party Afrikaans: Arbeidersparty	AP	1969	1994	Coloured people's rights Anti-apartheid Labourism Social democracy
National Union Afrikaans: Nasionale Unie	NU	1960	1966	Centrism Social conservatism
New Republic Party Afrikaans: Nuwe Republiekparty	NRP	1977	1988	Conservatism Consociationalism
Progressive Federal Party Afrikaans: Progressiewe Federale Party	PFP	1977	1989	Anti-racism Liberalism
Progressive Party Afrikaans: Progressiewe Party	PP	1959	1975	Anti-racism Liberalism
South African Party Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Party	SAP	1977	1980	Conservatism Federalism
United Party Afrikaans: Verenigde Party	UP	1934	1977	Conservative liberalism Monarchism

Defunct Parliamentary Parties (1910–1958)
	Abbrev.	Founded	Dissolved	Main Ideologies
Afrikaner Party Afrikaans: Afrikanerparty	AP	1941	1951	Afrikaner nationalism Conservatism
Dominion Party Afrikaans: Dominiumparty	DP	1934	1948	Conservatism Monarchism
Herenigde Nasionale Party English: Reunited National Party	HNP	1940	1948	Afrikaner nationalism Social conservatism
Labour Party Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Arbeidersparty	LP	1910	1958	Democratic socialism Social democracy
Purified National Party Afrikaans: Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party	GNP	1935	1940	Afrikaner nationalism Social conservatism
Roos Party	RP	1929	1935	Afrikaner nationalism Monetary reform
Socialist Party	SP	1938	1948	Democratic socialism Social democracy
South African Party Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Party Dutch: Zuidafrikaanse Partij	SAP	1910	1934	Afrikaner nationalism Liberal conservatism
Unionist Party Afrikaans: Unionisteparty	UP	1910	1920	Monarchism Protectionism

Defunct parties[edit]

Abolition of Income Tax and Usury Party (1994–?)

Afrikaner Party (AP; 1941–1951)

Boerestaat Party (BSP)

Christen Party/Christian Party (2005–?)

Christian Democratic Alliance (?–2009)

Christian Front (CF)^[15] (???–2014)

Democratic Left Front (2011–2015)

Democratic Party (DP; 1973–1977)

Dominion Party (1934–1948)

Federal Alliance (FA; 1998–2007)

Federation of Democrats (2005–?)

Front Nasionaal (FN; 2013–2020) (previously Federale Vryheidsparty)^[16]

Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP)

Khoisan Aboriginal and Others Movement (2008–?)

Labour Party (1910–1958)

Labour Party (1969–1994)

Liberal Party of South Africa (1953–1968)

Nasionale Aksie (NA; 2003–2004)

National Alliance (NA; 2009)^[17]

National Democratic Convention (NADECO; 2005–2009)

National People's Party (NPP; 2007–2016)^[18]

New Labour Party (NLP; 2004–2009)

Pro-death Penalty Party (2004?)

Progressive Reform Party (1975–1977)

Reform Party (1975–1975)

Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA; 1998–2014)

South African Business Party (SABP; ?–2012)

South African Democratic Congress (Sadeco; 2008–2011)

South African Party (SAP; 1911–1934)

Ubuntu Party (2012–2020)

United Independent Front (UIF; 2005–2010)

United Party (UP; 1934–1977)

Workers Organisation for Socialist Action (WOSA; 1990–?)

References[edit]

^ Sussman, Wayne (3 February 2022). "Resilient NFP makes sufficient KZN gains to worry slumping ANC and IFP". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 6 December 2023.

^ "message by mammba – International Revelation Congress". Retrieved 31 May 2023.

^ Westhuizen, Pieter van der. "ACA Party". Acaparty.org.za. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

^ "Tuisblad – Afrikanervolksparty". afrikanervolksparty.org. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

^ "CHANGE". Retrieved 8 May 2021.

^ "Welcome to the Dagga Party Official Website". Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.

^ "Home". federalpartysa.github.io.

^ https://www.greensouthafrica.co.za/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

^ "The OHM". www.organichumanitymovement.org. Retrieved 14 May 2019.

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

^ "True Freedom Party | True Freedom Party". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.

^ "Home". trulyalliance.org.za. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

^ "A Young Party by Young People!". www.dailysun.co.za. Retrieved 16 June 2021.

^ http://www.womenforward.org.za ^{[permanent dead link]}

^ "Five parties deregistered by IEC". Times LIVE. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2014. five parties – the Justice Party, the Real Congress, the United Democratic Civic Organisation, the Unemployed People's Party and the Christian Front – were deregistered

^ "Legal Notice No 37064". Government Gazette. 581 C. 29 November 2013.

^ "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2009.

^ "NPP | Home". Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2007.

External links[edit]

Independent Electoral Commission
Political parties in South AfricaatCurlie
ANC's foes rise up
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: Political Parties in South Africa Archived 28 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine

Political partiesinSouth Africa

National Assembly
(with number of seats held)

National Council of Provinces
(with number of seats held)

Other parties

Communist and socialist	African Content Movement Azanian People's Organisation Bolsheviks Party of South Africa National People's Ambassadors Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party South African Communist Party Workers International Vanguard Party Workers and Socialist Party United Congress
Social democratic	African Congress of Democrats African Democratic Change Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats Agang South Africa Congress of the People National Freedom Party Power of Africans Unity
Pan-Africanist	African People's Convention Abantu Batho Congress Black First Land First Pan Africanist Congress Pan Africanist Movement
Minority rights	Africa Muslim Party Cape Muslim Congress Compatriots of South Africa Minority Front National Coloured Congress
Liberal and libertarian	Capitalist Party of South Africa Democratic Liberal Congress Free Democrats
Agrarian	Civic Warriors of Maruleng Land Party
Christian	#Hope4SA Christian Democratic Party Christian Political Movement Economic Emancipation Forum Kingdom Governance Movement United Christian Democratic Party Uniting People First
Environmentalist	ECOPEACE Party Green Party
Single issue	African Security Congress All Things Are Possible Alliance for Transformation for All Dagga Party Forum for Service Delivery New South Africa Party Operation Dudula Referendum Party South African Maintenance and Estate Beneficiaries Association Women Forward
Local issues and regionalist	Better Residents Association Cape Independence Party Dabalorivhuwa Patriotic Front Gazankulu Liberation Congress Karoo Gemeenskap Party MAP16 Civic Movement Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners Sterkspruit Civic Association
Conservative	African Covenant African Independent Congress International Revelation Congress National Party South Africa
Afrikaner nationalist	Afrikaner Self-determination Party Boerestaat Party Herstigte Nasionale Party National Conservative Party of South Africa
African traditionalist	African Mantungwa Community African Renaissance Unity Party Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa National People's Front National Religious Freedom Party South African National Congress of Traditional Authorities
Uncategorised	African Change Academy African Congress for Transformation African People's Movement Alliance of Citizens for Change Democratic Independent Party Good Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa The Peoples Independent Civic Organisation People's Movement for Change South African Political Party South African Rainbow Alliance Spectrum National Party Team Sugar South Africa United Independent Movement Xiluva Ximoko Party

Defunct parties

Communist	Socialist Party of Azania Workers Party of South Africa
Socialist and social democratic	Labour Party (1910) Labour Party (1969) New Labour Party United Independent Front
Liberal and progressive	Democratic Party (1989) Democratic Party (1973) Democratic Progressive Party Democratic Reform Party Dominion Party Federal Alliance Independent Democrats Independent Party Liberal Party of South Africa Progressive Federal Party Progressive Party (1890) Progressive Party (1959) Progressive Reform Party Reform Party South African Business Party South African Democratic Congress South African Party (1896) South African Party (1910) Union Federal Party Unionist Party
Conservative	Christian Democratic Alliance Christian Front Christen Party/Christian Party Federation of Democrats Herenigde Nasionale Party Het Volk National Conservative Party National People's Party (1981) National Union New National Party New Republic Party Solidarity South African Party (1977) United Party
Afrikaner nationalist	Afrikaner Bond Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging Afrikaner Party Afrikaner Volksfront Conservative Party Front National National Action National Party Orangia Unie Purified National Party South African Gentile National Socialist Movement Volksparty
Miscellaneous	Abolition of Income Tax and Usury Party Ciskei National Independence Party Keep It Straight and Simple Party Khoisan Aboriginal and Others Movement National Alliance National Democratic Convention National People's Party Peace and Justice Congress Pro-death Penalty Party Transkei National Independence Party Ubuntu Party Universal Party