• ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe has been on the ballot paper since 1994.
• Meshoe says he formed the party because he wanted to participate in politics but still keep his Christian values.
• He says as long as members of his party want him to lead the party he formed in 1993, he will continue to do so.
• Find everything you need to know about the 2024 general elections on News24’s Elections Hub.

In 1994, the first democratic election, the ballot paper featured 19 political parties contesting the polls. Over the years, with a maturing democracy, the number of political parties on the ballot paper has mushroomed. 

On Wednesday, the country will have its seventh democratic election, and there will be 52 political parties to choose from on the national ballot paper. Among the 52 party leaders to choose from will be the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), whose face was on the ballot paper in 1994.

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On the 1994 ballot paper, then-40-year-old Meshoe rocked a pitch-black afro. Thirty years later, aged 70, he sat down with News24 to speak about the formation of the ACDP and the experience of participating as a political party leader in the first democratic elections in South Africa.

Born into a Christian home, Meshoe says his parents discouraged him from joining any of the parties who were part of the liberation struggle – including the ANC or the PAC – because they “did not agree with the attempts to change government violently”. 

He says his father, a police officer, believed everyone had to be “obedient to the laws of the country and just pray”.

“And as we prayed, God would answer our prayers in good time. So, he did not believe in violence; I did not believe in violence. I said change has to come through negotiations; people must talk and not fight. So, I was never involved with that,” he says.

However, when the winds of change began blowing, and it became evident that South Africa would finally be free from the shackles of the apartheid regime, he started thinking of how he could be involved in a new democratic South Africa but still keep his values as a Christian.

He says:

He admits that he grew up under the doctrine, in church, that Christians must not be involved in politics because it was “wrong”, and politics was a “dirty game”.

However, he tells News24 that when he began reading the Bible closely, he understood that politics was not, in fact, a “dirty game,” as the church taught had him, but it was “people in politics who have dirty actions”.

Meshoe says this revelation propelled him to look for a “Christian party,” but he could not find one. 

“And therefore, we decided to start our own,” he says. 

Central to him and his friends from a church he had established, forming a political party was to ensure that the Christian voice would be included in the country’s Constitution when it was later drafted. His fears were that a constitution would “undermine God,” whom he believed needed to bless the country’s future. 

In December 1993, a few months before the first democratic elections in April, Meshoe and his friends launched the ACDP. His parents, staunch Christians, supported his move.

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“They said, ‘as long as there is not going to be any violence, it’s fine,’ and they gave me their blessings,” he says. 

“My parents were very understanding. My father hated disobedience and rebellion, and as long as you obeyed his instructions and the teaching of the scriptures, he was happy. So he did not see any form of rebellion in what I was doing, and that is why he gave his green light.”

That is how the teacher-turned-pastor began his political career and was among those who made history by contesting the first democratic elections in South Africa. 

Of course, he was contesting with parties such as the ANC, which Nelson Mandela, the freedom fighter, had led, and he admits it was not easy to sell his vision to the electorate. 

Many did not embrace his new party because everyone was rooting for Mandela. He had also been part of a Christian community that had admonished politics before he formed a political party. 

He tells News24 that he had convinced Christians who were active in politics to leave politics because of what he had been taught about politics in church.

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“So, when I went into politics, we were [interviewed] on a programme called Good Morning South Africa, and when people saw me on TV announcing the formation of a new party, they said, ‘What is happening?’.

“So people started calling in, and the majority of them were criticising me, saying, ‘Of all of the people, is it you today [who has started a political party] because you used to criticise us, you would criticise Frank Chikane, and now you are in politics’.

“And my response was, ‘I was wrong, but I am not prepared to be wrong for the rest of my life. So, I am correcting my wrongs because Christians should also be responsible citizens; we cannot expect people to do things for us while we are doing nothing. So let us contribute, and also do something so that people of South Africa can contribute from our contribution,'” says Meshoe. 

He also remembers an incident after the election date was announced when men visited his church during Bible study and wanted to know his intentions for forming the ACDP. 

“It was a Tuesday night, and we were doing Bible study. While speaking in front, I saw eight guys coming in; we were meeting in a tent those days. They came into the tent, and they called one of our guys and told him, ‘We want to talk to him (Meshoe); tell him we want to talk to him.’ I said, ‘Tell them to wait until I am finished. I will talk to them.’

“So, after my teaching, I called them, and we sat down. Their first question was, ‘What are you trying to do with the ACDP? Are you opposing Nelson Mandela?’ I said, ‘No, I am not opposing Nelson Mandela.’ They then said, ‘What are you doing with the ACDP?’ I said to them, ‘You know Nelson Mandela has done a great job, and we believe he is still going to do many good things. But for him to succeed, he needs prayers, and I know many people outside of Parliament will pray for him in churches, but I want to pray for him inside of Parliament, and that is why I want to go there, to go and pray for him. 

“They did not expect that, but fortunately, they accepted the answer. I did not know who they were; they were just comrades who were just aggressive.

“The second thing I mentioned is the issue of the Constitution: ‘I want to make sure that even when the Constitution is written, there will be a reverend there who will make sure that the Constitution does not undermine the will of God.’

“They were happy, and they left me; they saw I was not a threat,” Meshoe reminisces with a brief laugh. 

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He also adds that campaigning – not for the ANC – was also hard and is grateful that people did not unleash their dogs on them when they campaigned for the ACDP.

He says:

He remembers that the mood back then was “very hostile”, and there were no-go areas, which made campaigning hard. 

“In some areas, they chased us away, and in some areas, they said, ‘No, they are church people. They will not cause us problems,’ and then they will leave us to campaign, to talk to people. 

“But people were very different, and the level of intolerance was very high because people did not know what the outcome of the elections would be. But under the threatening climate, we contested, and we managed to get two seats in Parliament,” he says. 

The ACDP managed to get just over 88 000 seats in the 1994 general election. Meshoe says that despite the challenges, he was never discouraged. 

He adds:

“You know, questions like that were asked because people were not used to a black person coming out of a township; when everybody was voting Mandela, you wanted something different. So that put you on the spot – ‘Who is this guy? Check his background.’

“Well, they checked my background and did not find any political involvement. I was just a church guy,” he says.

Registering a party to contest elections was easy

Unlike today, when parties have to prove to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) that they have a following to contest the elections, Meshoe shares that it was not like that with the 1994 elections.

Well, there was no IEC to begin with at the time. However, a temporary electoral commission ran the elections. Meshoe says he informed the body that ran the elections that he had formed a political party and wanted to contest elections. 

“At the time, you did not have the regulations that we have today; it was something new that was started. So, you did not have to prove that you had enough people [supporting your political party].”

Meshoe says:

The ACDP contests elections in all provinces, and in addition to the two seats it secured in Parliament, it also secured one seat each in Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape.

“It was an achievement,” says Meshoe of a party that was four months old when the elections took place.

Mr Mandela and I had a good relationship

Meshoe has also been one of the longest-serving members of Parliament and has fond memories of working in Parliament with Mandela and how, in those days, there was “respect” among MPs.

“The mood was cordial even though the ANC comrades were not always kind to us. They would howl and shout, but respect was part of the process besides the howling and shouting. Respect was lost when EFF came in; the EFF brought in a new culture that many people who were there did not appreciate,” he says.

He says his relationship with the late statesman, Mandela, was “very good,” and he prayed for him “quietly in my seat” in Parliament.

Meshoe remembers:

Asked if he still had the energy to lead the party he has led for 30 years, Meshoe says he still has a mandate from his party members that he is the right man for the job.