A political party that has lobbied for the impeachment of President Cyril Ramaphosa is confident it would increase its support base at the upcoming elections.
The African Transformation Movement (ATM) is on a crusade to increase the number of seats it has in the National Assembly in the 2024 national elections.
“In times where corruption and maladministration are the way of life, we need ethical leaders (who) will always speak for the people, and that is the ATM,” said the party’s parliamentary chief of staff, Mxolisi Makhubu.
“With increased seats, we can be able to influence policies better and make sure that the services go where they belong – with the people,” he said.
The movement said was on a membership recruitment drive “leveraging off from our stellar performance in the 2021 local government elections (LGE).
“Having received more than 130 000 votes in the (elections), we are using that as a benchmark to grow the membership numbers to a favourable 600 000 target so that our voice can hold more weight in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures,” said Makhubu.
Makhubu said they were also determined to increase voter numbers among eligible youth.
“The people have lost all confidence in voting, but we will change that, one voter at a time,” said Makhubu.
The party’s student wing is also on a path to increase support, having registered at 10 institutions of higher learning, gaining popularity and managing to obtain some SRC seats.
“We will intensify this strategy and make sure we have visibility in campuses so we can best advocate for student issues as well because we don’t believe that student issues are isolated from general issues.
“As an example, a ‘fees must fall’ issue affects national budgets, which affects taxation guidelines etc – so it is best to be present even in student issues to best give solutions. ATM is in governance. Our track record speaks for us, even with only two seats in the National Assembly, we are leading,” he said.
ATM is also adamant that the President Cyril Ramaphosa should resign.
“It’s a simple case of accountability. The first citizen of the country must be exemplary in following the law of the country.
“Other than the obvious issues we’ve experienced since he took office, there is a criminal cloud hanging over his administration.
“Firstly, with the case of the CR17 bank statements and the heavy efforts to have such records sealed, yet his administration claims to be fighting state capture. We may as well be in state capture because of those bank statements. We are unsure who benefited from those funds and we need to know. It points to accountability,“ he said.
On the Phala Phala farm gate scandal, the ATM said it saw how the president “worked hard to conceal a crime” by engaging in “criminal methods to achieve his greatest goal”.
“He did not declare the foreign funds to the central bank or the revenue service.
"He lied about the amount that was stolen. It was firstly US$6 million, and an investigation and affidavit by Arthur Fraser alluded to US$20 million being stashed and laundered through property by the president’s most trusted advisor,“ he said.
Makhubu said there was also a case of kidnapping and torturing of the invaders of his farm.
“Surely the president could have lodged a case with the police, instead of instructing Major-General (Wally) Rhoode to take matters into his own hands ... He went on further to facilitate a meeting in no man’s land to try and cover up all this, and the Namibian government statement is there as proof that they refused to take part in this criminality ... We cannot have a corrupt president leading South Africa. Not anymore. Not when the people need services mostly,” he said.
Political analyst, Professor Sipho Seepe said the ATM was living in a dream.
“ATM has active and courageous leadership that is trying to position themselves as a voice of reason. It's posture is no different from that of UDM and ActionSA. Unfortunately, I don't see it doing as well as it has done. ActionSA seems to have a better chance. It's prospect will depend on how it handles the Phala Phala matter which it has championed,” said Seepe.
Weekend Argus