Mzwanele Manyi remains mum on political future after defeat at election

Durban - After a dismal performance at the polls that saw his party only getting two seats out of the 400 contested for, Mzwanele Manyi, the head of policy of African Transformation Movement (ATM) has refused to talk about his political future.

Having been a director general at the Department of Labour, a media boss of the now defunct Afrotone, the owner of AfroVoice (The New Age) and government spin doctor, Manyi had hoped to add being a member of parliament to his CV until voters rejected his party’s political advances. 

Instead, he said using their two seats at the National Assembly, they will make their presence felt and they will soon hit the ground to prepare for the next coming elections, the 2021 local government elections.

Asked specifically by Independent Media whether he is going to work on full-time basis as the party’s head of policy as he was placed number 14 on the party list to parliament and will certainly not be moving to Cape Town, Manyi said it was not about him, but about his party.

“It’s not about me. It’s about the party, ATM. ATM will make its presence felt in parliament,” he responded briefly to the specific question sent to him.

Asked whether he will work continue to work with his colleagues to grow the party ahead of the local government in two years time, Manyi said they are going to hit the ground soon.

“Yes indeed, ATM will to the ground to get ready for 2021,” the former director general of the department of labour, said.

On Thursday, Manyi became a protagonist when he led the protest by the so-called 27 small parties objecting to 23 separate irregularities potentially compromising the elections results. He later pulled out of the group and him and his party accepted the final results and pledged to work with the Independent Electoral Commission to improve operational systems for subsequent elections. 

Political Bureau