As the road to the highly contested May 29 provincial and national elections approaches, new political formations are positioning themselves to occupy kingship status.
The stakes are high in KwaZulu-Natal, with the province recording the second-biggest number of registered voters. The Rise Mzansi political party has made it known that KZN is one of the provinces it was eyeing.
“The intention is to make a visible impact. To also be one of the parties that will decide the fate of KwaZulu-Natal,” said the party’s KZN premier candidate, Nonkululeko Hlongwane-Mhlongo.
Visible footprint throughout the province
Hlongwane-Mhlongo explained that the message that Rise Mzansi has been communicating was resonating with majority of the citizens.
“Even before we launched as a political party, we have been on the ground interacting with communities who yearn for political change. We were visible among residents organising sport tournaments, cultural festivals, assisting with uniforms, etc. As a party, we have entrenched a visible footprint throughout the province,” she said during an interview with Sunday World.
She also indicated that their motto of “not doing things for communities” but doing work with them had ushered a new dawn in the South African political landscape.
“Rise Mzansi does politics differently. It engages with communities with respect and honesty. We had an open list system. Through it, ordinary South Africans could apply to be deployed as members of parliament and provincial legislatures,” she explained.
In KZN, the party has put assisting informal businesses and single women. Also scrapping age restriction in employment and study opportunities among key priorities.
Informal businesses, single mothers
“We are focusing on those who are 35 years old and above to be absorbed into jobs and study opportunities. Rise Mzansi will fight hard to ensure that this is achieved. Assisting single mothers and informal businesses is also one of our priority areas in KwaZulu-Natal.”
While Rise Mzansi believes it can achieve the ambition of being the kingmaker in KZN, they would have to battle it out with other parties.
The former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party is among the new political entrants expected to cause an upset. The importance of the province ahead of the crucial elections has also seen the governing ANC deploying its heavyweights there. They are sent to assist to defuse MK Party support and retain the provincial majority.
