Alberton: In a bonfire that doubled as a car park in a poor suburb of Johannesburg, a group of party activists said, “We need a new leader!” followed shyly by twelve observers.
“Songézo, get up!” They continued before meeting Songezo Zibi, leader of Rise Mzansi, a minor party among the new factions competing in the divided opposition camp ahead of South Africa’s May 29 general election.
It is not unusual for political leaders, former journalists later to make no promises.
“I did not make any promises and I will not tell you … we will solve all your problems. This will not happen,” Zibi told voters during the canvas training session in Eden Park, south. from Johannesburg. Mother’s day.
The low-key strategy is the result of widespread disillusionment with politics after three decades of African National Congress (ANC) rule.
Thirty years after the former liberation movement won its first democratic elections, South Africa remains the most unequal nation in the world, plagued by high unemployment, widespread crime, widespread corruption and a stagnant economy.
“People do not want to answer. They have given up on politics,” Zibi, dressed in a white shirt, trainers and jeans, told AFP on Friday.
In the last election in 2019, only 49 percent of voters of voting age voted on Election Day.
“This is an opportunity to get a new leader in South Africa, not just a leader, but a new set of leaders who will renew the government and politics and act differently,” Zibi said.
“It’s a question of trust. People don’t expect miracles. They want to know whether you’re telling the truth or not.”
The 48-year-old’s approach is sure to convince donors, with policies such as fighting corruption and cutting wasteful spending like the official security detail.
Rise Mzansi, which was founded just last year, raised around 17 million rand ($900,000) between October and December last year – according to electoral authorities.
Persuading voters proved to be more difficult.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Lindiwe Dlamini, 27, who is unemployed.
From jobs to security, Eden Park, where school children play football in streets lined with small, gray houses, dilapidated walls and rusted iron pits, needs everything, but Zibi “doesn’t offer anything”.
With the highest turnout of 4 percent in Johannesburg’s Gauteng province, less than 1 percent polled nationally, where placards with blue, red, yellow and green logos similar to Google everywhere.
Political analyst Daniel Silke says Rise, like other small groups, has struggled to stand out from the pack, relying on Zibi’s charismatic personality to gain recognition.
“Political policy points are really pedestrians.”
However, Zibi believes the party can reach five percent nationally through sustained campaigning.
In South Africa’s system of proportional representation, which has no electoral threshold, the 400-seat assembly would have around 20 members of Parliament.
That could be a huge prize.
The ANC, rocked by allegations of corruption and mismanagement, is expected to drop below 50 percent of the vote for the first time.
This will force the search for coalition partners among more than 50 competing parties.
Only the liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters and UMkhonto and Sizwe, which opposed former president Jacob Zuma, received less than two percent of the vote in both.
Analysts say the ANC may choose to merge with some of its smaller, less demanding rivals if it does not fall too far below 50 percent.
South Africa’s Rise Mzansi, which Zibi describes as a European-style “social democratic” party poised between “communism” and “rabid capitalism,” has so far avoided a coalition.
Negotiations to join the DA-led group failed.
DA leader John Steenhuisen recently accused him and others refusing to sign the deal as “mercenary recruitment” to try to divide the opposition vote for a deal with the ANC.
The outspoken Zibi, who shaved his hair, showed that he was seen as a threat to his party. Agreeing with the ANC could damage Mzani’s reputation as a pirate, Rise said.
“We are not interested in entering the government.”
