It was possible that South Africa could see a new political formation that embraced a range of opposition parties, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said on Friday.

He made the suggestion in a paper prepared as input to this weekend's national convention called by ANC dissidents in Sandton.

Holomisa, who will attend the two-day meeting as head of a UDM delegation, said that since the ANC's Polokwane conference there had been tremendous pressure from the public on opposition groupings to form a strong alternative to the ruling party.

Mandates

"The truth is that we can't just bundle a group of political parties together at short notice, because we represent specific voters and mandates," he said.

"The 2009 election is near; if we had started this convention process in January this year we would've been in a better position, but now time is against us."

However it might be possible to come up with a co-operation model in which parties would not lose their identities, but would work together under one umbrella in the election.

After the elections, he said, there could be a second and bigger convention of political parties and sectors of society.

This could produce a commitment to an accepted common vision of an alternative government.

Consensus

"If consensus is reached during the course outlined above, it is conceivable that the situation could result in a new political formation that would pursue the objective of an alternative government," Holomisa said.

The emphasis at this weekend's meeting should be on the Constitution, rather than wasting energy on who owned the Freedom Charter.

"We have a fresh founding document of democracy that we need to embrace and protect," he said.

The UDM remained committed to multi-party democracy, and felt that this was an opportune time to turn the page on one-party dominance.

"May God bless us all to read from the same page and take our country forward," he said.

Sapa