Rise Mzansi believes South Africa has warned that bad choices may yet plunge the country into a vicious cycle of weak, corrupted institutions, low and negative, as well as deepening poverty and unemployment.
The party said the country remains at a critical political crossroads despite the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The party added that the ANC and other established political parties’ failure to deal with the country’s deep socioeconomic and governance crisis has created space for dangerous, populist rhetoric that divides rather than unites society.
The party said opportunistic politicians who want to either resume or continue to loot public funds, position themselves as “new” champions of racialised “economic justice” while offering no thoughtful, systemic solutions to complex problems.
The GNU was formed after the ANC lost its outright majority for the first time since the country’s transition to democracy in 1994.
During the official opening of the seventh democratic administration in July 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that the GNU had placed inclusive economic growth, reduced poverty, and building a capable state as its three main priorities.
However, according to Rise Mzansi, which is part of the GNU, these issues have not changed for years.
Unemployment remains high, poverty is deep and the economy is hardly growing. National and local infrastructure, which should deliver basic services and support the economy, is disintegrating faster than the government is able to fix it.
The party’s leader, Songezo Zibi, said this is while climate change continues to accelerate its decline and threaten food security for the most vulnerable South Africans and in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
He said these and many other crises have resulted in a climate of continued desperation in the face of hunger, violent crime, substance abuse and lack of adequate housing for millions of South Africans.
He said 2025 is an opportunity for the 7th administration to place on the table a set of priorities and an implementation program that will change the lives of South Africans for the better.
“This is an environment ripe for corrupt political entrepreneurs to exploit the people’s justifiable need for urgent action to engage in divisive, populist politics that undermine nation-building in the name of economic justice – while creating room for themselves to resume or continue looting public resources.
South Africans must refuse to be fooled by their rhetoric, at the heart of which are not practical solutions but different ways in which they can mobilise South Africans to see one another as enemies,” Zibi said.
The party said Ramaphosa must assert his powers as an Executive President and put ministers and senior public servants on a performance and delivery short leash. He must fire them if they do not perform or do not meet the ethical standards expected of senior office bearers, said Zibi.
He added that the government needs to grow the economy by more than 5% per year to defeat unemployment and poverty.
Zibi said the cabinet must set targets for eliminating financial wastage, renegotiating expensive government contracts to achieve value for money, improving financial and procurement controls in all state entities and remove, and prosecute corrupt officials and political office bearers.
Zibi said South African politics needs new leaders with the skills and experience to lead in the modern age.
“We call on all patriotic South Africans to step up and change South African politics through active participation in building a new political alternative, running for political office, especially at the local government level – or supporting those who choose to do so.”
Political analyst Professor Siphamandla Zondi said the party is trying to project itself as a voice of reason in parliament and as an opposition party, which is also part of the GNU. Zondi said the Rise Mzansi, as a small party with a lot of promises and well funded, is hard-pressed to demonstrate that it can set itself apart from other parties in parliament.
“It decided to form part of the GNU without taking a position, and the party is hard-pressed to make sure that GNU works. If the GNU does not work it means the party would be part of what did not work and it may not be able to advise anyone about anything in future because they would have been a part of a failure,” he said.