Al Jama-ah

Political party in South Africa

Islamic democracy
Social conservatism
Ubuntu

Political position

Fiscal:
Left-wing^[1]
Cultural/Ethical:
Right-wing^[2]^[3]

Colours

Al Jama-ah (Arabic: الجماعة, lit. 'the Congregation') is a South African political party. It was formed in 2007 by present leader Ganief Hendricks and contested the 2009, 2014 and 2019 national elections.^[4]

The party aims to support Muslim rights and interests, though the party states that it supports working for the shared interest of all South Africans from different religious and cultural backgrounds.^[5]^[6] The flag of Al Jama-ah depicts a white gim (ج, the first letter in its Arabic name), upon a field consisting of the other Islamic colours. In January 2023, party member Thapelo Amad became Mayor of Johannesburg.^[7] He resigned in April and was replaced by fellow party member Kabelo Gwamanda.

History

Until 2019, the party had no elected representatives nationally or provincially although it came close in both the 2009 and 2014 elections, and won nine seats at the local level in the 2016 municipal elections.

It made a breakthrough in 2019, winning its first national representative (becoming the first Islam-affiliated party to do so), as well as one seat in the Western Cape legislature.

In October 2019, its member of parliament for the Western Cape, Izgak De Jager, was replaced by Galil Brinkhuis after De Jager was accused of not complying with an agreement to pay 50% of his gross salary to the party. De Jager in turn stated that the agreement was to pay 50% of the net, not gross salary, and accused the party of failing to disclose its debt to its members.^[8]

In January 2023, Al Jama-ah's Thapelo Amad was chosen as Mayor of Johannesburg with the support of the African National Congress.^[7] He resigned in April and was replaced by fellow party member Kabelo Gwamanda.

Election results

National Assembly


Election	Total votes	Share of vote	Seats	+/–	Government
2009	25,947	0.15	0 / 400	–	extraparliamentary
2014	25,976	0.14	0 / 400	–	extraparliamentary
2019	31,468	0.18	1 / 400	1	in opposition

Provincial elections


Election^[9]^[10]	Eastern Cape		Free State		Gauteng		Kwazulu-Natal		Limpopo		Mpumalanga		North-West		Northern Cape		Western Cape
Election^[9]^[10]	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats
2014	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.62%	0/42
2019	0.15%	0/63	–	–	0.18%	0/73	0.28%	0/80	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.86%	1/42

Municipal elections

In a by-election in November 2020, Al-Jama-ah won a ward in the City of Johannesburg from the Democratic Alliance.^[11]


Election	Votes	%	+/–
2011^[12]	13,227	0.04%	-
2016^[13]	36,891	0.10%	+0.06
2021^[14]	61,189	0.20%	+0.10

References

^ Ebrahim, Shaazia (31 January 2019). "Al Jama-ah Party: We'll Tackle Inequality With Islam And Ubuntu". thedailyvox. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
^ Lagardien, Ismail (19 November 2020). "Al Jama-ah: The small Islamic political party with a narrow vision and big ambitions". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
^ De Barros, Luiz (2 February 2023). "New Johannesburg mayor is from openly queerphobic party". Mamba. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
^ "Final List of Parties to contest the 2009 Elections". Polity.org.za. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
^ "Al Jama-ah's Constitution 2023 – Aljama-ah Muslim Political Party". www.aljama.co.za. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
^ "Mainfesto – Aljama-ah Muslim Political Party". www.aljama.co.za. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
^ ^a ^b Ramushwana, Alpha. "Al Jama-ah's Thapelo Amad is Johannesburg's new mayor". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
^ newsroom (6 December 2019). "Al Jama-ah rocked by internal politics - Voice of the Cape". Retrieved 11 October 2021.
^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Republic of South Africa General Election Results Lookup".
^ "Results Dashboard". www.elections.org.za. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
^ Khumalo, Juniour. "The DA was the biggest loser in this week's by-elections". Citypress. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ "Detailed results" (PDF). elections.org.za. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
^ "Results Summary - All Ballots" (PDF). elections.org.za. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
^ "IEC Results Dashboard". results.elections.org.za. Retrieved 1 November 2021.

External links

Al Jama-ah

Political parties in South Africa

National Assembly
(with number of seats held)

National Council of Provinces
(with number of seats held)

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Defunct parties

Communist	Socialist Party of Azania Workers Party of South Africa
Socialist & Social Democratic	Labour Party (1910) Labour Party (1969) New Labour Party United Independent Front
Liberal & Progressive	Democratic Party (1989) Democratic Party (1973) Democratic Progressive Party Democratic Reform Party Dominion Party Federal Alliance Independent Democrats Independent Party Liberal Party of South Africa Progressive Federal Party Progressive Party (1890) Progressive Party (1959) Progressive Reform Party Reform Party South African Business Party South African Democratic Congress South African Party (1896) South African Party (1910) Union Federal Party Unionist Party
Conservative	Christian Democratic Alliance Christian Front Christen Party/Christian Party Federation of Democrats Herenigde Nasionale Party Het Volk National Conservative Party National People's Party (1981) National Union New National Party New Republic Party Solidarity South African Party (1977) United Party
Afrikaner Nationalist	Afrikaner Bond Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging Afrikaner Party Afrikaner Volksfront Conservative Party Front National National Action National Party Orangia Unie Purified National Party South African Gentile National Socialist Movement Volksparty
Miscellaneous	Abolition of Income Tax and Usury Party Ciskei National Independence Party Keep It Straight and Simple Party Khoisan Aboriginal and Others Movement National Alliance National Democratic Convention National People's Party Peace and Justice Congress Pro-death Penalty Party Transkei National Independence Party Ubuntu Party Universal Party