Johannesburg - Nineteen new political parties have been registered on a national level with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) over the past nine months.
Prominent among this group are Mamphela Ramphele's Agang SA, Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters, and the Workers and Socialist Party.
The lesser-known parties include the Lekgotla for Democracy Advancement, the International Revelation Congress (IRC), and the Poelano Revelation Party.
All these are contesting next year's national elections and hoping for seats in Parliament.
Kokoloti Mametja, leader of Lekgotla, on Wednesday said South Africans were “wising up” and realising the ANC was not delivering.
“In this country... we are in very, very big trouble. As a public servant I know that,” he told Sapa.
“A lot of South Africans are wising up.”
Mametja, a former African National Congress member, worked in the Gauteng local government department. He resigned from his job in August this year.
He said the “wheels started coming off” for the ANC in the early 2000s when nepotism, corruption, and cadre deployment surfaced. Lekgotla was started in 2011 as a civil rights organisation.
“We went into the communities and initiated dialogue over the past three years. You need to find a greater objective and ours is service to the people.”
Mametja said current leaders and politicians were not listening to the people.
“We are going to speak the language of ethics, the language of good governance. Good governance can't take a back seat, it needs to be the national agenda.”
He said a membership audit had not been conducted yet, but that the party had a presence in the provinces. The party, which was launched in July, would start campaigning in October.
“We might be operating at a low budget but there is nothing stopping us. We are a functioning political party right now. We don't have an organisation which is groping in the dark. We are actually ready,” Mametja said.
The IRC's Thinawanga Mammba said he started the party because the ANC was not doing anything for the people.
“When the ruling party came in they said they will unite all South Africans, but they are dividing people. They did not fulfil their promises.”
Mammba, who claimed to be a former National Union of Metalworkers of SA shop steward, said no one should still be living in a shack without electricity or running water.
He claimed the IRC had 34 000 members so far and was strong in Limpopo.
Political butterfly Philemon Sadick, who fluttered from one party to the other, registered the Poelano Revelation Party in March.
During apartheid Sadick said he campaigned for the ANC, but when the party came into power he decided to join the National Party to try to “neutralise” its image.
However, when the NP decided to merge with the ANC Sadick left the party.
“I decided to leave it and join the Democratic Alliance. The Democratic Alliance was not nice for me so I decided to go and learn more about the ANC and I became again a member of the ANC until I registered this party,” he explained.
Sadick said he was focusing on getting a seat in Parliament so he could “lay matters on the table”.
“My problem is poverty is fluctuating in rural areas and government is not supporting emerging farmers and emerging business people. Crime is my problem, and xenophobia, and drugs.”
Sadick said his party had about 2000 registered members and he was battling with funding.
Other political parties registered this year are: the Bolsheviks Party of SA, Direct Democracy Forum, First Indigenous Nations Civic Association of SA, the Nationalist Coloured Party, the Nehemiah Liberation Christian Party, People's Party of SA, Security Workers Political Party, SA People's Party, True Freedom Party, Ubumbano Lwesizwe Sabangoni, and the United Congress.
Sapa