Rustenburg - Former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille's "GOOD" party hopes to emerge from the 2019 general election as one of the top five political parties, De Lille said on Saturday.
"Anything is possible. Tata Madiba [former president Nelson Mandela] said anything seems impossible until it is done. Yes we may have a short space of time, but we have to just change our strategy, and we concentrated a lot on branding the name of GOOD in almost about 50 million homes in South Africa. I think we have a good chance that we will be in the first five political parties," she said at the launch of her party's North West premier candidate campaign in the farming area of Avondale, west of Rustenburg.
She told supporters there was a "good gap" in the North West. "We will do the good work and come to save the North West province."
The newly established party would contest the May 8 elections at national level and in all nine provinces.
GOOD leader Patricia de Lille. Video: ANA/Molaole Montsho
"Those going to parliament will not be representing their jackets, they will be representing the people. Make sure there [are] enough women on the [election] lists or we will return it back to you. Make sure there [are] enough young people and differently abled people," she said.
She warned party members not to fight for positions, saying those not elected to go to parliament stood a chance to contest positions as municipal councillors in 2021.
GOOD North West premier candidate Vivien Law said mines could not continue to operate around communities that had no access to drinking water. She would ensure that people had water, children were in school, and mining companies honoured their social labour plan commitments.
GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille.
Video: Molaole Montsho/ANA
De Lille said that unlike other political parties, GOOD had chosen to launch its premier candidate campaign in a rural area, because they were "different" from other parties that had chosen major urban centres to "splash money" to launch their election manifestos. "We launched our manifesto on Facebook, we did not waste money," she said.