Last modified: 2009-06-27 by
Keywords: independent democrats | south africa | politics |
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The Independent Democrats (ID) were formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform is basically populist and anti-corruption, with a mixture of right-liberal proposals and left-wing sensibilities. Ahead of the national elections this year, the ID has launched a manifesto promising that, if elected to power, they would increase the size of the South African Police Service to 200,000, enlist 5,000 caseworkers to operate in crime-stricken communities, make South Africa a leader in renewable energy and finance a minimum social grant by taxing luxury goods, tobacco and alcohol. In addition they vowed that an "ID government would fire a minister whose department received a qualified audit two years in a row."
The flag of the party is white with its logo in the centre. The party logo comprises its initials in white against a orange/tan oval with the name of the party in full beneath - "independent" being in lower case in black and "DEMOCRATS" being in upper case in orange/tan. There is a black dot above the "I".
Bruce Berry, 20 Apr 2009
There is a new party in South Africa. The social democratic Independent Democrats is led by Patricia De Lille and flies their logo on a white flag as can be seen on their website.
Gary Selikow, 19 Dec 2003