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Statement by Helen Zille:

Today we announce an historic step in the realignment of South African politics.

This step takes us closer to building a new majority that can win elections across South Africa.

It is a political memorandum of understanding between the ID and the DA to come together and fight elections under the DA's banner and we plan to implement and honour it.

Our parties accept the principal of joint membership under specific circumstances and today Patricia de Lille, her deputy Agnes Tsamai, and other senior ID leaders will take out membership of the DA.

The Federal Council of the DA and the National Executive Committee of the ID today and yesterday ratified our memorandum, paving the way for complete integration by 2014.

In terms of our memorandum:

The DA will accept ID public representatives as members of the DA. ID councillors will be entitled to hold dual membership until the local government elections due to be held next year. ID Members of Parliament and Members of Provincial Legislatures will be entitled to hold dual membership until the general election to be held in 2014.

The DA and the ID will hold joint caucuses in the councils and legislatures where both parties are represented.

The DA and the ID will not compete against each other in by-elections or campaign independently of each other.

An appropriate number of ID members in leadership positions will join the highest decision-making bodies of the DA - the National Management Committee, the Federal Executive and the Federal Council.

Employees of the ID will be integrated into the DA's operational structures.

This memorandum of the DA and the ID heralds the beginning of a new phase in our journey away from the politics of racial identity, towards the politics of shared values. These values will form the bedrock of the new majority we are building in South Africa.

The political contest in South Africa is now between the values of openness and opportunities for all envisaged in the Constitution versus the ruling party's drive to close down the democratic space and limit opportunities to the politically-connected few.

We believe that, working together, we can win this battle of ideas. We look forward to making the South African dream - of one nation united under the Constitution - a reality for all who live in it.