Good (stylized as GOOD) is a South African

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

political party that was formed in December 2018.Patricia de Lille names her party 'Good'
Retrieved on 2018-12-03. The party is led by its founder, veteran South African politician

Patricia de Lille Patricia de Lille (née Lindt; born 17 February 1951) is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and leader of the political party Good. She served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023. S ...

, who is the current

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) *Ministry of Touri ...

and former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the city of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. She is currently the party's sole member in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. The party's political ideology is Social Democracy, with a focus on spatial justice, Universal Basic Income, and environmental justice. The party's stronghold is the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province. In May 2019, De Lille was the only opposition member appointed to serve in the

cabinet of South Africa The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the president, the deputy president, and the ministers. Overview The cabinet of South Africa consists of the Presi ...

. She had stated that Good would remain an opposition party.GOOD welcomes Minister De Lille
''Mail & Guardian'', 29 May 2019. Retrieved on 10 August 2019. In June 2024, Good agreed to join the ANC-led

government of national unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

(GNU). De Lille continued serving as South Africa's

in the coalition.

Formation

Patricia de Lille is a South African politician. She was elected to the

as a

Pan Africanist Congress The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, often shortened to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), is a South African pan-Africanist national liberation movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert So ...

(PAC) member in 1994. She held many leadership positions in the party. During the 2003 floor-crossing period, she broke away from PAC and formed the

Independent Democrats The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption, with ...

(ID). The party was the first political party in South Africa to be led by a woman that contested elections and won seats. In 2010, after meetings between the Democratic Alliance Federal Executive and the Independent Democrats Executive, it was announced that the ID would merge with the Democratic Alliance (DA). Members of the Independent Democrats held dual party membership. The ID was officially dissolved after the 2014 general elections. In March 2011, de Lille was selected by the Democratic Alliance to be the party's mayoral candidate in Cape Town. She was subsequently elected Mayor of Cape Town in May 2011. She served until October 2018. During the last months of her mayoral career, the Democratic Alliance accused de Lille of covering up corruption in the municipality. She strongly denied these allegations. When De Lille resigned as mayor, she also resigned as a member of the Democratic Alliance, citing that the party had been abusive towards her. DA Chief Whip Shaun August and many other councillors, including Mayoral Committee Member for Transport Brett Herron, resigned their positions in protest to the removal of De Lille. They were all members of the previous Independent Democrats. It was speculated that de Lille would revive the

and that it would be the "kingmaker" in the 2019 provincial election. On 18 November 2018, de Lille launched the "For Good" political movement and website. On 2 December 2018, de Lille announced the formation of the Good political party in

Houghton Estate Houghton Estate, often simply called Houghton, is an affluent suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, north-east of the city centre. The area was designated for white residents as part of the Group Areas Act during the apartheid era and became kno ...

, a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

Leadership

Patricia de Lille has said that the party's official leadership will be elected after the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...

. The party is currently managed by interim leaders. The National Leadership Committee consists of 36 members. The interim leadership was announced in January 2019 and was as follows:

Election campaign

At the launch of the political party, de Lille said that the manifesto of the party and premier candidates would be announced in early 2019. The party is registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and contested the 2019 national and provincial elections in all of the South African provinces. On 5 February 2019, the party launched its manifesto. The party's manifesto focused on key issues, such as the reduction of the size of the national cabinet, the prosecution of corrupt individuals and the scrapping of the controversial e-tolls in

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

Collaboration with Rise Mzansi

In August 2024, Axolile Notywala,

Rise Mzansi Rise Mzansi (RISE) is a South African political party founded in April 2023. It is led by Songezo Zibi, a former newspaper editor and co-founder of the ''Rivonia Circle'' think tank. The party characterises their ideology as social democratic bu ...

's candidate for Premier of the Western Cape during the

2024 Western Cape provincial election The 2024 Western Cape provincial election was held on 29 May 2024, concurrently with the 2024 South African general election, to elect the 42 members of the List of members of the 7th Western Cape Provincial Parliament, 7th Western Cape Provinci ...

, was appointed by Good to fill a vacancy in the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town (; ) is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that forms the metropolitan municipality (South Africa), local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of ...

council. Rise Mzansi stated that the arrangement "cements the two parties' commitment to revive conversations about realigning social democratic politics" and did not not rule out the possibility of a merger, while Good's Brett Herron said that "we are confident that this is only the beginning of a much broader and richer project".

Election results

The party gained two seats in the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation sy ...

and one seat in the

Western Cape Provincial Parliament The Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) is the legislature of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located at 7 Wale Street in Cape Town. The Provincial Parliament, along with the other provincial legislatures of South Africa, ...

.De Lille’s GOOD party makes its mark in the Western Cape
Retrieved on 10 August 2019. The two parliamentary seats were filled by de Lille and Shaun August, while the provincial parliament seat was filled by Brett Herron.De Lille set to have a GOOD time in Parliament
Retrieved on 10 August 2019. De Lille has subsequently accepted the position of Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure in the

but has stated that Good will remain an opposition party. On 17 July 2019, Good contested its first municipal by-election in the

George Local Municipality George Municipality (; ) is a local municipality within the Garden Route District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. , the population is 294,929. Its municipality code is WC044. Geography The municipality covers an area o ...

.DA deny GOOD by eight votes in George
Retrieved on 8 August 2019. The party's candidate was Mercia Draghoender, who defected from the DA to Good. She had previously served as a ward councillor and the mayor of the municipality. The media speculated that this election would be an upset since Draghoender had good name recognition. The African National Congress also had a good chance of winning this election due to

vote splitting In social choice theory and politics, a spoiler effect happens when a losing candidate affects the results of an election simply by participating. Voting rules that are not affected by spoilers are said to be spoilerproof. The frequency and se ...

. The DA ended up retaining the ward but with a majority of only eight votes. Good was in second place with the ANC in third out of several parties that contested the by-election. The party won its first local government ward in a by-election in November 2020, in Ward 27 (Pacaltzdorp) taking a ward in George from the Democratic Alliance. Richard "Yster" Hector winning the ward for GOOD, ending up by being GOOD's first-ever elected ward councillor. In May 2024, Agang SA endorsed Good for the May 29 national and provincial elections and encouraged its members and supporters to cast their votes for the party on the national, regional and provincial ballots. In the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

Good won one seat in Parliament (National Assembly) and

was the sole Good elected MP.

Local elections

In the 2021 municipal elections, GOOD ran in five provinces, six metros, and a thousand wards. The party fielded nine mayoral candidates: general secretary Brett Herron in

, former

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

coach

Peter de Villiers Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957) is a South African professional rugby union coach and former Good Party politician. He was coach of the South Africa national rugby union team from 2008 to 2011, after successes with the South African U19 ...

in his home of Drakenstein, as well as Lloyd Phillips in

, Sarah Mabotsa in

Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ), also known as the City of Tshwane (), is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pre ...

, Lawrence Troon in Nelson Mandela Bay, Elizabeth Johnson in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, Donovan Saptoe in George, Ryan Don in

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay () is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, Western Cape, Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay ...

, and Sharifa Essop in

Beaufort West Beaufort West (Afrikaans: ''Beaufort-Wes''; Xhosa: ''eBhobhofolo'') is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the ...

National Assembly elections

, - ! Election ! Party leader ! Total votes ! Share of vote ! Seats ! +/– ! Government , - !

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, rowspan=2 ,

, 70,408 , 0.40% , , New , , - !

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, 29,501 , 0.18% , , 1 ,

National Council of Provinces

, - !Election !Total # of
seats won !+/– , - !

, , 0

Provincial elections

! rowspan=2 , Election ! colspan=2 ,

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

! colspan=2 , Free State ! colspan=2 ,

! colspan=2 ,

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

! colspan=2 ,

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

! colspan=2 ,

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

! colspan=2 , North-West ! colspan=2 ,

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

! colspan=2 ,

, - ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats , - !

, 0.24%, , 0/63 , 0.08%, , 0/30 , 0.20%, , 0/73 , 0.11%, , 0/80 , 0.03%, , 0/49 , 0.06%, , 0/30 , 0.12%, , 0/33 , 0.83%, , 0/30 , 3.01%, , 1/42 , - !

, 0.09% , , 0/73 , 0.06% , , 0/30 , 0.13% , , 0/80 , 0.06% , , 0/80 , 0.02% , , 0/64 , 0.04% , , 0/51 , 0.06% , , 0/38 , 0.47% , , 0/30 , 1.13% , , 1/42

References

{{South Africa political parties 2018 establishments in South Africa Political parties established in 2018 Political parties in South Africa Social democratic parties in South Africa