• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home Features 2014 General Elections Political Parties

Minority Front (MF)

24 January 2014, 3:16 PM  |
News Publisher News Publisher |  @SABCNews
The MF concentrates on the Indian vote. Picture:SABC

The MF concentrates on the Indian vote. Picture:SABC

The MF concentrates on the Indian vote. Picture:SABC

The Minority Front (MF) solely concentrates on the Indian vote and is an ethnically-based party with most of its support coming from KwaZulu-Natal, which is home to the largest Indian population in the country and outside of India.

The party will contest their first general elections (2014) Shameem Rajbansi, following her husband, Amichand Rajbansi’s passing in 2011. She has always maintained that her husband’s passing would not be the end of the party.

Stemming from its founder leader Amichand Rajbansi’s experience in the House of Delegates in the 1980s, the strategy of the MF is to work for change from within the system. The party’s ability to command the support of a large portion of the KZN electorate puts the MF in the position of king makers in the province at times when support for the ANC and the IFP is evenly balanced.

Following the 2000 local elections, the MF threw its weight behind the ANC and enabled the party to gain control over the Durban city council. Similarly, after the 1999 election, the MF agreed to use its one seat in the National Assembly to help the ANC control 267, or two-thirds, of the NA votes.

The core of the MF strategy is to safeguard Indian interest under an African-led government. The party aims not to create tensions between Indians and African sections of the electorate and promises to make a deal with the African majority so as to ensure that Indians get their share of government services and other benefits.

In the 1994 and 1999 elections, the MF campaigned on the platform that it would work with whatever party won the majority of the votes in KZN and at the national level. Rajbansi believed that the MF “should stand in ‘co-operative co-existences’ with ruling parties,” and asserted that opposition politics that criticized the government merely for the sake of opposition did not “contribute to the reconstruction and development of South Africa.”

In 2004, the MF conducted its campaign along the same lines of constructive engagement. In the 2004 elections, the The African National Congress managed to clock up 46.98% of the votes in the hotly contested province. The Inkatha Freedom Party achieved 36.82% and its coalition partner, the Democratic Alliance, had 8.35%, while the IFP’s other alliance partner, the Freedom Front Plus, received 0.28% of the poll. The Minority Front had 2.61%, the African Christian Democratic Party 1.78%, the United Democratic Movement 0.75% and the New National Party 0.52%. – edited by Sipho Kekana

Amichand Rajbansi believed that the MF “should stand in ‘co-operative co-existences’ with ruling parties.”

MF website

– By

Share article
Previous Post

National Freedom Party (NFP)

Next Post

United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)

Related Posts

Ngola Njinga Mbande ruled over the 17th century Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms of modern-day Angola.

Influential Africans Part 2 | The story of Queen Nzinga of Angola

3 May 2022, 5:13 PM
[File Image] President Cyril Ramaphosa receives the first part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture from the Commission’s Chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Decision to grant State Capture Commission six-week extension a serious concern: Casac

29 April 2022, 9:16 AM
A weekly look at tech innovations and its impact.

FEATURE – TECH IMPACT: Online learning platform for mathematics teachers launched

28 April 2022, 4:33 PM
A weekly look at tech innovations and its impact.

FEATURE – TECH IMPACT: UCT’s goal realisation app now available in 11 official languages

14 April 2022, 5:00 PM
National Director of Public Prosecution Advocate Shamila Batohi briefing media on progress made in the Venda Building Society Mutual Bank investigations.

NPA gunning for those implicated in State Capture and grand corruption: Batohi

12 April 2022, 7:00 AM
A weekly look at tech innovations and its impact.

FEATURE – TECH IMPACT: Basic education introduces robotics and coding in SA schools

30 March 2022, 5:00 PM
Next Post
The UCDP has three seats in the National Assembly. Picture:SABC

United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • Calls for law enforcement to activate action plan to arrest Namhla Mtwa’s killer
  • Several roads affected due to flooding in parts of KZN
  • Family of Deborah Fraser had hoped she would recover in hospital
  • Russia uses new laser weapons in Ukraine, Zelenskyy mocks ‘wonder weapon’
  • IN PICTURES: Dr Deborah Fraser funeral service
  • SA may be home to world’s oldest person
  • Cosatu’s May Day celebrations descended into chaos, proceedings halted
  • Family wants justice for Namhla Mtwa who was killed in alleged hit
  • Suspect arrested in connection with Hillary Gardee’s murder
  • Senzo Meyiwa Murder Trial | Advocate Teffo arrested, instructing attorney says they’ve received intimidating calls

LATEST

Hong Kong's, Shanghai's and China's CSI 300 indexes opened marginally higher while Japan's Nikkei share average was down 0.18%.
  • Business

Asian stocks shrug off Wall St weakness but growth concerns remain


Biden and his fellow Democrats have failed to get enough votes in Congress for background checks for gun purchases or other proposed bills.
  • World

Biden asks Americans to stand up to gun lobby after Texas ‘massacre’


The motive for Tuesday's massacre in Texas, the latest in a string of seemingly random mass shootings that have become commonplace in the United States, was not immediately known.
  • World

Gunman kills 18 children, 3 adults in Texas elementary school – Officials


President Biden's approval rating has been below 50% since August, raising alarms that his Democratic Party is on track to lose control of at least one chamber of Congress in the November 8 mid-term election.
  • World

Biden’s public approval falls to 36%, lowest of his presidency – Reuters/Ipsos


Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
  • Lifestyle

Royal Mint makes its biggest ever coin for Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee


US President Joe Biden aboard Air Force One.
  • World

Biden to speak on Texas school shooting Tuesday night


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous National Freedom Party (NFP)
Next United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)