African Christian Democratic Party
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The African Christian Democratic Party is a political party in South Africa . It was founded in 1993 and claims to represent "Bible believing Christians" and "those who have a high regard for moral values". As such the party concentrates mostly on "moral" issues such as abortion, homosexuality and pornography. Indeed its 2000 manifesto opposed the promotion of condoms and safe sex as a way of preventing HIV transmission. "The ACDP feel strongly that the condom campaign must be abandoned and that abstinence and faithfulness in marriage must be promoted." Therefore the ACDP party platform is similar to that of the CU (Netherlands) and the Christian Heritage New Zealand.
The party is led by Rev. Dr. Kenneth Rasalabe Joseph Meshoe (MP). As of 2004 it has seven members in the South African Parliament. It also has 1 or 2 members in most of the provincial legislatures.
ACDP logo
The logo was designed by a number of ACDP pioneers, and was aimed at representing what a party with biblical Christian principles should entail. The two arrows from left and right, signify drawing South Africans from the right and left of race, politics, ideology, church affiliation, religion, language, tribe and culture towards the cross of Jesus Christ.
The arrows upward and downwards illustrate the direction up towards God and down towards South Africans and to South African communities.
The red border signifies the blood of Jesus Christ, surrounding and protecting the ACDP and its members and followers, and the people of South Africa.
10 Year History of the ACDP
The need for a credible alternative to the divisive politics of the past prompted Christians from diverse backgrounds to launch a new political party in December 1993 and so the African Christian Democratic Party was established exactly a hundred days prior to South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.
The ACDP platform is based on what it sees as the biblical standard of reconciliation, justice, compassion, tolerance, peace and the sanctity of life, the individual, the family and community. It proposes to direct the political debate towards these issues and to unite people around the common values, instead of focusing on ideological, historical and racial differences.
During that first election in 1994, the ACDP surprised many people by securing two seats in national government and three in provincial government.
Being the smallest of the seven parties then in the national government, the ACDP was the only party to vote against the adoption of the South African Constitution.
A year later, the ACDP won three seats in local government elections. However during the next five years, four councilors from other political parties crossed the floor to join the ACDP.
In 1999 many critics believed that the ACDP would lose one of the two seats it had in the national Parliament. To the contrary, the ACDP tripled its representation and became the fifth largest party in Parliament with seven parliamentarians. The party also won its first seat on the National Council of Provinces. Provincially the party added another representative to bring ACDP representation in four different legislatures.
The greatest growth that the ACDP experienced up to date was during the 2000 Local Government Elections, from seven councilors to 70 councilors nationally.
ACDP Elections slogans:
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Important Documents
Rerum Novarum (1891)
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Graves de Communi Re (1901)
Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
Laborem Exercens (1981)
Sollicitudi Rei Socialis (1987)
Centesimus Annus (1991)
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