Former member of the African National Congress (ANC), Boy Mamabolo said he is over the organisation and the “Mandela for President” name and is now shifting his focus to building his newly founded political party, Born to Win.
Mamabolo who last week terminated his ANC membership, said from now on he is distancing himself from anything to do with the former liberation movement so that he can move forward with a clear conscience, and in peace.
“There was a lot of sabotage from the ANC, and they tried by all means to block my move to establish a political party. This was after they realised that I had a number of followers, contrary to what they thought. They had thought I was going to leave alone. They forgot that I have a huge number of supporters behind me; neighbours, friends, in-laws and community members who are benefitting from our Boy Mamabolo Foundation,” said Mamabolo.
Sizeable number
He added: “When they realised that we got more than 10k signatures, they immediately mobilised Nelson Mandela Foundation to write to the IEC to block the name of Mandela for President.
“It was my intention to name our new political party after Mandela, but it looks like there were some people who thought they had the rights to that name, and they started sabotaging us.”
Mamabolo told Sunday World that the new name Born to Win means that every South African was born to win – despite their background.
“Everyone is born to win; whether you come from a poor family, or went to school without school shoes, uneducated and unemployed. We are saying to you my brothers and sisters, you were Born to Win.”
“Our party stands for the uneducated and the poorest of the poor. We are not an elite organisation. We are mobilising those who drink at taverns and ordinary South Africans who were regarded as voting cattle,” he said.
The Seshego-born politician said Born to Win is going to field their leaders to contest as councillors and Mayoral candidates: “But before that, we need to make sure that we achieve our mandate of getting one million signatures first before we submit a formal registration, and we are not going to do that through press conference like Mayibuye because we are a mass-based organisation. Our launch, due in December, must take place in front of thousands of supporters.”
Their litmus test is the 2026 local government elections, Mamabolo said.
Mamabolo said although the party will first be strengthened in Limpopo, their intention is to spread their wings across all the nine provinces in the country.
