‘Politicians don’t care anymore’ – Rise Mzansi’s Irfaan Mangera

From being a founding member of Songezo Zibi's Rise Mzansi’s, qualified teacher Irfaan Mangera recently became a civic alliances coordinator as it became evident the new party could be a serious political contender.

This was after, in 2022, a group of people, including Irfaan, came together to bring a new kid to the block as a potential alternative to existing parties.

When he speaks of who he is, he doesn’t leave out how his family was forced to move about 40km away from the city to Lenasia after his original home area was bulldozed during apartheid.

With this family home, his family lost their small business which was owned by his grandfather.

Although he wasn’t born at the time, the history of his family is one thing he holds dear to his heart. It’s at the core of who he has turned out to be.

From the stories that he hears of the multi-cultural community that the Irfaan family helped build, he draws his inspiration.

He is one of the most active young activists and community organisers in the country.

Irfaan might be in mainstream politics at the moment but that’s not where it started for him. It all started in school where he would participate in charity drives.

“As an activist who wants to build a one South Africa that is united and embraces diversity, that legacy plays into my beliefs that we are stronger if we connect more rather than divide more. That’s what I lead with,” the 28-year-old tells Drum.

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Now an integral part of Rise Mzansi, Irfaan has been part of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation (AKF), ANC Youth League and even the #FeesMustFall movement back in 2015 when he was still a Wits student.

Admirably, he acknowledges that he has learnt to realise that he’s far more privileged than a lot of people and that’s why he strives to extend himself to those in need.

“But that privilege didn’t come by chance. I got to hear of how they’d go hungry to make sure that the children have food that parents don’t have, and they would sometimes work seven days a week to do that.

“Working at the AFK foundation and engaging veterans like Kathy himself, opened up my mind and shifted my own belief of service away from charity. My religion and background encourage lots of charity, we are generally giving people. The problem was that I could see the charity last for a short period of time and doesn’t have the impact that it should have. Having seen how bad politicians would go about campaigning for elections, the challenge was that none of them would be there to fully service the community and live through the same experiences [as their constituency].”

Irfaan adds that some of his family members are ANC members and as a result, he would have a front row seat for most things that he eventually decided to not be a part of.

His passion was more fuelled to make changes and ended up deriving energy to do more, from his work.

“When I would organise protests and see hundreds of people respond to come out. To see children as young as 15 and 17 years old taking up forms of action; tacking service delivery challenges, starting food gardens, I said to myself ‘who am I not to be hopeful when people who have far less privileges than I do are standing up and resisting the structural conditions that have been forced on us”? That’s what fueled my activism.”

Growing up as a child, he remembers watching as much parliamentary TV as possible to gain a better understanding of how governance and political systems work.

Initially, the former ANC Youth League convener was sympathetic but with time, he says that the more crises unfolded in front of him, the more he began seeing through the lies, the smokes and mirrors and the more he started asking a lot of questions.

As a result, he left partisan politics and went into community and foundation work, where he found his community power.

“I was disheartened, I didn’t have a political home. We felt disillusioned that there’s no vehicle for that change that we want but something I kept reminding myself of is that democracy works when everyone works to make it work, it’s a group project so the more we do our bit in civic organisation, the better outcome we can get. It’s in those civic movements and all the foundations I’ve been a part of that helped me understand the missing link in all of this.”

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“Our problems are political, and we must keep building pressure but we’re not going to salvage if we don’t solve the politicians we have because the politicians we have just don’t care anymore. They’ve checked out, they’re all in it to enrich themselves,” he explains.

He acknowledges that there are people who are fighting against certain internal political party battles but admits that the problem is rooted in the party cultures hence the fight bears no fruits.

Their manifesto prioritises a foreign policy that reflects the values of human rights, immigration policy that has public trust, people living with disabilities and nation building.