Pretoria - The Land Party said on Friday that it was not bothered by its failure to garner enough support to win a seat in parliament following Wednesday's general election.
Speaking from Cape Town via phone to African News Agency (ANA), Land Party leader Gcobani Ndzongana said that the party had run a good campaign considering its lack of resources. This was just the beginning for the party, he added.
"We are still good about the number we got. We ran a campaign without resources and financial muscle because our organisation is funded by people in the squatter camps, the unemployed, waitresses and general workers," he said.
"We are a community-based organisation. To achieve what we have achieved is a great feat. If we had resources, we would have made a serious dent."
After 16 million votes counted, or 95.9 per cent, the Land Party managed to garner only 6 923 votes.
The party was born out of protests in Cape Town's informal settlements and was formally launched on 16 January.
It unseated the African National Congress (ANC) in two wards in Hermanus, Western Cape, and went head-to-head in another ward last year.
Ndzongana said that the party was "in solidarity" with various smaller political parties that had taken issue with alleged irregularities reported during voting.
Those 35 parties raised objections with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), citing instances of double voting, lack of stamped ballot papers, broken scanners and problems with non-indelible ink, among other issues.
"We are in solidarity with [the other small parties], but we have to look at the stability of our country. We are a party built on patriotism, so we have to be vigilant against being used by external forces [or being] used by political parties for their own gain," he said.
"Their concerns are genuine, but we are asking our members to withdraw and not bother the IEC. We have to put our country and its people first. We want the IEC to continue with releasing the results. All political parties have the responsible to respect the process."
Ndzongana said that going forward, the party was returning to the ground to mobilise support and would "cause more damage" in the near future.