Cape Town – In a surprise move, former DA leader Mmusi Maimane will join business mogul and former ANC national security adviser Neil de Beer in his newly established United Independent Movement (UIM).
De Beer yesterday announced his resignation from the ANC after more than 30 years of membership.
A former ANC national security adviser to Nelson Mandela and Umkhonto we Sizwe intelligence agent, De Beer was most recently special adviser to the Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
Having lost faith in the ANC, De Beer has created the UIM – a civil society movement aimed to educate South Africans about their power and fundamental rights, to uplift their communities and elect independent candidates to public office.
This follows a Constitutional Court judgment in June this year which ordered Parliament to amend electoral laws to allow for independent individuals to stand for election to Parliament.
One South Africa, which Maimane leads, has committed to a “symbiotic working partnership” with the UIM.
“Our message today, in launching the UIM, is to understand that this country itself needs you. It is time for a new dawn and time for a new hope.
’’A home where race is recognised but not weakened, a home where a religion is respected not frowned upon, a home where gender-based violence is unacceptable and a home where justice must be for all.
’’Myself and Mmusi Maimane of OSA have agreed fundamentally, undisputedly, that the power of the people lies within its vote,” said De Beer.
Maimane said they wanted to create a direct relationship between voters and members of Parliament.
“Every adult citizen has a right to stand for public office, not only as a member of a political party, because we get political parties who claim to be representing us but they represent the interests of their political party,” he said.
Cape Times