RISE Mzansi is ready to take on the big guns on Wednesday, 29 May.
The party’s National Leadership Collective (NLC) convened for a two-day special meeting in Joburg over the weekend to check on its readiness before the elections.
Rise Mzansi spokesman Mabine Seabe said on Monday, 4 March, the NLC, which is the highest decision-making body of the organisation, deliberated on, among other things, compliance with the Electoral Commission’s (IEC) signature requirements, received and deliberated on the 19 National and Provincial candidate lists to be submitted to the IEC as received from the Independent Nominations Committee (NomCom).
The party further discussed issues of premier candidates to be announced soon, the developments in the political environment and election readiness.
“With just 86 days until the national and provincial elections, it was important for Rise Mzansi to ensure full organisational readiness to mount a compelling campaign,” said Seabe.
He said the NLC reflected on the organisation’s growth over the past 10 months and its electoral prospects.
He dismissed reports that Rise Mzansi failed to submit signatures and said the party has already complied with the IEC’s signature requirements.
“Two weeks ago, Rise Mzansi completed the process of successfully uploading 112,018 signatures to the Electoral Commission (IEC) portal. This is more than enough signatures to ensure that we contest in all nine provinces as well as the national ballot,” he said.
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He stated that the NLC scrutinised the 19 lists received from the Independent NomCom to be submitted to the IEC by Friday, 8 March.
The 19 lists are the nine regional-to-regional, nine regional-to-national, and one national-to-national lists.
“Once we have submitted our lists to the IEC and notified all candidates, we will publicly introduce the new leaders who will campaign for the organisation to represent the people of South Africa in all nine provincial legislatures and parliament,” he said.
He said the NLC also confirmed the nominations of the premier candidates for the Western Cape and KZN.
“Over the next two weeks, we will be announcing our premier candidates for KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape who will spearhead our efforts to remove the ANC and DA from power and make way for new leaders who understand the needs of communities,” he said.
Earlier in February, Rise Mzansi national chairwoman Vuyiswa Ramokgopa was announced as the party’s Gauteng premier candidate.
The NLC has called on some new political parties struggling to meet the IEC signature requirements to contest the elections to join Rise Mzansi.
“Rise Mzansi is the only credible political alternative that places people and their dignity at the centre of its politics,” Seabe said.
