Four National Party Councillor defect - joins UDM statement by National Deputy-Secretary (8 September 1998) |
The National Party's cosmetic makeover, embodied in a new logo and a borrowed slogan, will have no impact on the fact that the voters do not believe in the NP anymore. The National Party is addressing all the wrong issues. It is no longer providing any hope or direction to the electorate. It suffers from weak and inefficient leadership. Its so-called new policy is a move to the right of the political spectrum and is nothing more than a mere repackaging of the "group interest" politics and differs little from the Freedom Front's suggested policy of Community Councils and Cultural Forums. With this move back into the lager, we have lost what little confidence we have had in Marthinus van Schalkwyk as leader. The National Party is making a joke of broad South Africanism and is interested only in representing a small group - with that approach, the NP can never become a major player in the political arena. The
councillors will continue to serve in the council representing the UDM. They will now form
UDM branches and will work actively in KwaZulu-Natal promoting the UDM towards the 1999
elections. The
councillors are: |