Rise Mzansi to contest 2024 general elections, wants to fix SA’s ‘broken’ political system

Newly launched political party, Rise Mzansi, says South Africa needs a reset, a new direction, energy, and political leadership away from the country’s existing political parties.

Rise Mzansi

Rise Mzansi, led by former news editor Songezo Zibi, launched on Wednesday at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg. The new party aims to build a united, non-racial, safe and prosperous South Africa.

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Rise Mzansi’s 13-member national leadership – called the National Leadership Collective – includes former Democratic Alliance (DA) member Makashule Gana, former national coordinator for the Right2Know Campaign Axolile Notywala, and former apartheid activist and president of the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo), Ishmael Mkhabela.

Speaking at the launch of Rise Mzansi, Zibi said the party commenced the process to register as a political party with the Electoral Commission to contest the 2024 elections with a national list across all nine provinces.

This comes after almost two years of consulting and mobilising with communities around the party’s values and mission.

And with the governing African National Congress (ANC) predicted to lose its parliamentary majority during the next year’s polls, Zibi said his party was not closing the door to forming coalitions with like-minded parties that share their vision for SA.

However, this will not be for the sake of political expediency in order to occupy positions of power.

“Coalitions are not a choice. I think every political party wants to win an election outright. It just happens that voters decide that no one is going to have a majority, and therefore, you need to have a coalition,” said Zibi.

SA’s ‘broken’ political system

Zibi described South Africa as a country in crisis, saying its political system and culture are broken.

He said the ANC, as a former liberation movement, has come to represent failure, despair, incompetence, and corruption.

“We have become a society ruled by politicians, guided by laws we ignore and anchored by nothing – no clear value system at all.

“There is no self-propelling moral that anchors us as a society. We are politically led by people who lack seriousness, depth, and respect for the South African people,” said Zibi.

The Rise Mzansi leader said even the country’s largest opposition parties have also reached a dead end – electorally and politically – and citizens were desperate for real change for a better future in which all South Africans are united behind the same values and vision.

Zibi dispelled any notions that Rise Mzansi was only for middle-class professionals, saying the party is for all citizens who believe in a common shared future.

“South Africa needs a unifying moment. We have been divided and taken advantage of for too long. Rise Mzansi intends to realise a longstanding objective of our democracy that until today has remained only words: The people shall govern.”

‘Unfinished business’

Zibi said since the dawn of democracy, the country has had unfinished business due to the ANC’s failure to adequately address the legacies of colonialism and apartheid that still linger on.

“This should not be the case a whole 30 years since we attained democracy,” he said.

The 47-year-old said South Africa, therefore, needs a reset and Rise Mzansi was offering citizens a “people-driven political alternative” from the existing parties.

Zibi added that Rise Mzansi’s values included justice, freedom, equality, solidarity and integrity.

“These values and goals must be a way of life that informs what we do in politics, civil society, business, and the public service,” he said.

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