'South Africa needs a democratic reset to deliver freedom and justice'

South Africa has lost a spark, optimism, the belief that better things are possible because of the state of politics. The question is whether we give up to cynicism or draw on ourselves to bring a new day. Today is not about another attempt to win an election – it is about how we regain hope and the belief that a better life is possible. That requires that we draw deep from within.

My home is Mqanduli in rural Eastern Cape. It is where I herded cattle, sheared sheep and tilled the land for maize, beans and pumpkins. Oosenza, oocetshana, oosolontsi. It is this life that helps explain why I am here today.

Mqanduli is where, at three weeks old, my single-parent mother left me in the care of my grandparents so she could start at her first job as a teacher. When I was old enough and working, I set down my own roots there and built a home. Ndiligoduka.

So, as much as we speak English in the cities we end up in, or at events such as this, deep down some of us are instinctively village people. And for important occasions like today, my instinct is to speak isiXhosa, which brings a certain sense of gravity to the matter. 

So, please bear with me and my village stories just now. It is what I know, and the best way I can articulate why the work we do is unavoidable.

To get to my village, you take the Coffee Bay and Hole-in-the-Wall off-ramp on the N2 just south of Mthatha.

Anyone who has been on the road to Coffee Bay will tell you that it is even hard for 4x4s. In some places, driving off-road is safer than what remains of the tar. I can tell you confidently that there is someone watching me right now who is confirming this to the person sitting next to them. That road is bad and that 62km can take up to two hours if you are not familiar with it.

Mqanduli is a typical small town under this government. It is collapsing under the weight of political neglect and incompetence. The neglected government buildings on one side of main street are built on land that used to belong to a local family, confiscated by colonialists in the early 1900s. 

On either side of this road, and all the way to Coffee Bay, are homes and communities that have never had piped water or a flush toilet, ever! The town itself doesn’t have a municipal sewerage system.

The people of these communities are unseen, unheard and uncared for. They are black people, mostly black women.

Rise Mzansi has a bold ambition: to reshape South African politics within a decade. (Photo: Twitter)

You cannot achieve the vision we set out, and the sweeping changes we propose, without political power.

Reviving the South African dream

Our national politics today is like a used furniture shop. Every piece has been bought and sold numerous times… Some of it has even been stuffed with foreign currency.

• Violent crime is at intolerable levels;


• Our economy is dying for lack of electricity and growth because of political neglect, incompetence and corruption;


• Unemployment today is higher than it was 15 years ago;


• Millions of people are lucky to have all three meals a day, and too many children suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and stunting;


• Our municipalities are falling apart – and our roads, bridges and railways are crumbling before our eyes;


• We remain among the world’s most unequal societies, with historical fault lines marked out by race and sex;


• The corruption that is endemic to the ruling party has spread like cancer into the state, and the rest of our society. We now have too many people with no sense of what is even right and wrong; and


• Our foreign policy, previously a light among developing nations, has moved from non-alignment to misalignment with our constitutional values.

• The ruling party has come to represent failure, despair, incompetence, corruption and outdated ideologies. Millions of its own supporters deserve a better political home, one that takes their dreams seriously instead of using them as fodder for personal enrichment and power;


• The largest opposition groups have reached a dead end, electorally and politically. Many of their voters, too, want to see a competent and capable partnership that can unite South Africans and lead our country effectively; and


• A minority, with crude sloganeering, with the unmistakable hint of violence on its breath, threatens to tear apart our country’s democratic fabric. They also thrive on the politics of despair and anger but no practical solutions.

• A society that is fair – where class, race, gender or disability do not determine who succeeds in life and who doesn’t;


• A country governed by the rule of law, where life is not cheap, and the powerful are equally subject to the law;


• A society where economic justice, inclusion, growth and investment are not opposing concepts but part of the same package that delivers a prosperous life; and


• A nation where climate justice is about human well-being and protecting our natural environment – not a fight between the elites about coal and renewable contracts. Rural subsistence farmers are losing their livelihoods. People’s homes are being swept away by floods. Thousands of people in the coal belt have respiratory diseases.

• Be loyal to the South African Constitution;


• Work in our communities and volunteer to find solutions to make our communities safe and prosperous;


• Work together to build an inclusive movement, driven by the people, to contest for political power in Election 2024; and


• Develop ethical, accountable leaders capable of leading our country and communities.

Crossroads