Pretoria - The imminent launch of a civil organisation to be known as the South Africa Mass Movement next week will pave a way for the formation of a political party expected to contest for the 2024 general elections.
Convener of the movement Mzuvele Cele expressed hope the launch would mark the beginning of a fight for the poor to have a voice in the country’s political discourse.
He said the organisation would serve as “a grass root political platform” that would “afford us to create a database of people who will be able to come and assist in building this country”. Cele decried the fact that after almost 30 years of democracy, “things are still the same”.
He said the decision to first unveil a political platform – and not a fully-fledged political party – was to guard against tendencies by some people to “hijack the formation by declaring themselves presidents” of the party before they could be elected into positions.
“Our approach to this organisation will be different in that we wouldn’t like to bring our personalities into it, but we would like the people at grass roots level to take over. We would like this organisation, when it is launched, to be led by people who are credible and who have the backing of the people of South Africa,” Cele said.
He said the need for a political platform stemmed from much disappointment by the public with the politics of the day and how it negatively affected poor people. “I am disappointed with the politicians interfering with administrative issues because that ends up affecting poor people who can’t afford to go to court and defend themselves.”
He also pointed out that political instability as a result of the coalition government had a negative bearing on the lives of the poor.
Cele said: “Now that the coalition government is likely to go national after the 2024 election, we must do something about it as the poor.”
He bemoaned the fact that the voices of the poor were muted, saying the only voices that were heard in the country were those of an elite few.
He criticised the current crop of political leaders for being interested in serving themselves and not the public.
As far as he was concerned, the launch of the political platform would signify a new era in politics “that would depart from the politics of the stomach”.
He emphasised that time for ordinary people to outsource their responsibilities to fight “selfish and incumbent politicians for social justice and an inclusive economy” was over.
Pretoria News