New kid on the political block RISE Mzansi says it is ready to contest the upcoming general elections following its two-day National Leadership Collective (NLC) meeting this weekend.
Spokesperson for the party, Mabine Seabe, said the weekend-long deliberations was the issue of the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) candidate nominations for its provincial candidates, compliance with the IEC’s signature requirements and its state of readiness for the elections.
Seabe has indicated that the party will be ready to pronounce on its premiership candidates soon, adding that the party has been able to comply with IEC election requirements.
Despite inaccurate reports over the past week and on the weekend, RISE Mzansi has already complied with the IEC’s signature requirements, Seabe said.
The party has revealed that it was able to garner more than 100 000 signatures in order to comply with the IEC rules.
“Two weeks ago, RISE Mzansi completed the process of successfully uploading 112 018 signatures to the Electoral Commission portal. This is more than enough signatures to ensure that we contest in all nine provinces as well as the national ballot,” he said.
The party said it has gone through the list of 19 provincial candidates, which is due to the IEC this Friday, March 8.
“The NLC scrutinised the 19 lists received from the Independent NomCom to be submitted to the IEC by March 8, 2024. Once more, RISE Mzansi will make its submission before then. The 19 lists are the nine Regional-to-Regional; nine Regional-to-National; and one National-to-National lists.
“Once we have submitted our lists to the IEC and notified all candidates, we will publicly introduce the new leaders who will campaign for the organisation to represent the people of South Africa in all nine Provincial Legislatures and Parliament,“ he said.
The party has also indicated that it will be announcing its premier candidates for the KZN and Western Cape provinces in no time, following a recent announcement for Gauteng.
“Over the next two weeks, we will be announcing our premier candidates for KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, who will spearhead our efforts to remove the ANC and DA from power and make way for new leaders who understand the needs of communities,” Seabe said.
On its readiness to contest the elections, the party has revealed that it has received a comprehensive update from its national campaign team.
“The NLC received an update from the National Campaign Team on the progress we are making in achieving our targets across all provincial and national ballots. The NLC is satisfied with and impressed by the work being done by leaders, organisers and volunteers, who on average host 2 000 activities every week and sign up 20 000 supporters at the same time, while taking the People’s Manifesto to villages, towns, and cities,” he said.
The Star
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za