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Rise Mzansi

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Rise Mzansi
AbbreviationRISE
LeaderSongezo Zibi
ChairpersonVuyiswa Ramokgopa
SpokespersonGugu Ndima
Chief OrganiserMakashule Gana
Head of PolicyMandla Isaacs
Deputy ChairpersonCilna Steyn
FounderSongezo Zibi
Founded19 April 2023; 19 months ago (2023-04-19)
National Assembly
2 / 400
National Council of Provinces
0 / 90
Pan-African Parliament
0 / 5
(South African seats)
Provincial Legislatures
1 / 487
Website
www.risemzansi.org

Rise Mzansi (RISE) is a South African political party founded in April 2023. It is led by Songezo Zibi, a former newspaper editor and co-founder of the Rivonia Circle think tank. The party characterises their ideology as social democratic but has been defined elsewhere as neoliberal.[1]

Formation

[edit]

Rise Mzansi was launched on 19 April 2023 at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. Songezo Zibi was named as party leader.[2] Zibi is former associate editor of the Financial Mail and former editor of Business Day as well as the Rivonia Circle think tank co-founder. The party's national leadership includes former Democratic Alliance public representative Makashule Gana, former anti-apartheid activist Ishmael Mkhabela, Mandla Isaacs former speechwriter for Minister Malusi Gigaba, and Nick Binedell, founder of the GIBS business school.[3][4] The party intends on contesting the 2024 general elections with Zibi as the party's presidential candidate.[5]

In August 2023, Member of Parliament Nomsa Marchesi resigned from the Democratic Alliance and joined Rise Mzansi as the party's Free State convenor.[6] In November 2023, student leader David Kabwa's party, MOVE SA, announced that it would contest the 2024 elections under the banner of Rise Mzansi.[7] In January 2024, Khume Ramulifho, another former member of the DA joined the party.[8]

Politics

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Rise Mzansi's leader, Songezo Zibi, has described himself as a social democrat[9] and used to give other politicians copies of the book The Third Man, a memoir by Peter Mandelson that documents and advocates third way politics as implemented by New Labour in the UK.[10] He has also written in support of the third way.[11][12]

Zibi describes Rise Mzansi as a "typical European centrist party."[10] The party has been described by commentators as "leaning towards social democracy"[13] or as neoliberal with social democratic rhetoric.[1]

The party's manifesto for the 2024 election has been described as focused on professionalising the government of South Africa and reducing corruption.[10]

According to their website, they stand for the following principles:[14]

  • "A constitutional democracy, where the constitution is the supreme law.
  • A government based on the will of the people and elected by the people.
  • Free, fair and regular elections that are run independently.
  • South African people enjoying their freedoms without the fear of criminals.
  • All South Africans having access to quality basic services and opportunities to live a better life.
  • Public representatives who serve the people and are accountable, ethical and do their duty with care."

2024 campaign

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Rise Mzansi's campaign slogan for the general elections is "2024 Is Our 1994", in reference to South Africa's first democratic elections.[15] In April 2023, Rise Mzansi rejected calls to join the Democratic Alliance-initiated "Moonshot Pact" (later Multi-Party Charter) of opposition parties on the grounds that the pact is solely based on removing the ANC and keeping the EFF from national power. Rather than forming itself only around opposing the ANC, Rise Mzansi says it is focused on developing substantive alternative politics and policies.[16]

The party's head of strategic communications was Mark Gevisser, who disclosed this after the elections in October 2024.[17]

In the 2024 general election, Rise Mzansi won two seats in the Parliament (National Assembly) with 0,42% of the vote.[18]

In June 2024, Rise joined the Government of National Unity (GNU), but was not allocated any positions in the Cabinet, nor any deputy ministers.[19] However, its leader, Songezo Zibi, was appointed as chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in the National Assembly.

Funders

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Rise Mzansi was the subject of public controversy due to the apparently large amount of funding it possessed in the absence of any declaration of its funding sources, which led to allegations that it might be funded by a foreign government. Party leaders were evasive when answering questions and initially claimed that the party "is only funded by ordinary South Africans".[20]

The IEC released donor information for the period 1 October to 31 December 2023 showing that Rise Mzansi raised R16.7 million: more than any other party during that period.[21] Of this amount, R15million came from a single donor: billionaire Rebecca Oppenheimer, daughter of apartheid mining magnate Nicky Oppenheimer.[22] The party subsequently received significant criticism for this, with leader of the opposition EFF party Julius Malema saying:

“How can you give Rise Mzansi so many millions even when they don’t have a track record of being a legitimate political party? Let us unite black people to fight against the Oppenheimer money. Let us not be bought by the Oppenheimers.”[23]

In the IEC's release of donor information for the first quarter of 2024, immediately before the elections, it was revealed that the party had received a further R33,895,000.[24] Again, R15million of this came from Rebecca Oppenheimer. Another R15million came from an unknown, recently registered non-profit organisation called 'We Are The People', leading to further controversy.[25] The third largest donor was The Tempyr Trust, an anonymous trust registered in Luxembourg.

Collaboration with Good

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In August 2024, Axolile Notywala, the party's candidate for Premier of the Western Cape during the 2024 Western Cape provincial election, was appointed by Good to fill a vacancy in the City of Cape Town council. Rise Mzansi stated that the arrangement "cements the two parties' commitment to revive conversations about realigning social democratic politics" and did not not rule out the possibility of a merger,[26] while Good's Brett Herron said that "we are confident that this is only the beginning of a much broader and richer project".[27]

Election results

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National Assembly elections

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Election Party leader Total votes Share of vote Seats +/– Government
2024 Songezo Zibi 67,975 0.42%[a]
2 / 400
 Increase 2 ANC–DA–IFP–PA–GOOD–PAC–VF+–UDM–RISE coalition government
  1. ^ From 2024, seats in the National Assembly are determined by a combination of the national ballot, and the nine regional ballots. Only the national ballot figures are shown here.

National Council of Provinces elections

[edit]
Election Total # of
seats won 		+/– Government
2024
0 / 90
 New Extraparliamentary opposition

Provincial elections

[edit]
Election[28] Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng Kwazulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North-West Northern Cape Western Cape
% Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats
2024 0.29 0/73 0.28 0/30 0.98 1/80 0.11 0/80 0.15 0/64 0.19 0/51 0.36 0/38 0.16 0/30 0.51 0/42

References

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  1. ^ a b "PART TWO: Rise Mzansi promises social democracy but delivers neoliberalism". The Mail & Guardian. 28 April 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Former editor Songezo Zibi launches Rise Mzansi". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. ^ "'Return democracy to the people': Rise Mzansi leaders say SA ripe for change". News24. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  4. ^ Goba, Thabiso. "Former news editor Songezo Zibi launches political party, Rise Mzansi". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  5. ^ "'The people must govern': Songezo Zibi launches Rise Mzansi". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  6. ^ "DA's Nomsa Marchesi joins Rise Mzansi". HeraldLIVE. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Rise Mzansi to contest 2024 general election with Move SA". www.google.com. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  8. ^ Masuabi, Queenin (16 January 2024). "Ramulifho ditches DA and sets sail with Rise Mzansi". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  9. ^ @Rise_Mzansi (24 November 2023). "Zibi tells JJ that Herman Mashaba did approach him for a partnership but they do not align. He says "I am a social democrat through and through and we didn't align"" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ a b c "Is South Africa ready for a change in government?". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Why South Africa needs a third way". Leadership. 9 February 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  12. ^ RISE Mzansi is investing in hope, in fresh ideas and new leaders. Media Statement. 10 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Rise Mzansi manifesto: A promising start marred by the troubling resurgence of racial policies - Hermann Pretorius". BizNews.com. 5 February 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  14. ^ "About". www.risemzansi.org. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  15. ^ Mbolekwa, Sisanda. "'2024 is our 1994 — a chance at renewal,' says Rise Mzansi". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  16. ^ Mahlati, Zintle. "'Moonshot pact' should not just focus on unseating ANC, EFF, says Rise Mzansi's Songezo Zibi". News24. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  17. ^ Gevisser, Mark (25 November 2024). "Fragile unity in SA: Lessons for Rise Mzansi after the 2024 elections".
  18. ^ "NPE Results Dashboard 2024". results.elections.org.za.
  19. ^ "Rise Mzansi: We never demanded any Cabinet positions and we got none". iol.co.za. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Rise Mzansi denies receiving funds from foreign governments". eNCA.
  21. ^ Davis, Rebecca (29 February 2024). "ANC and DA are the big losers and Rise Mzansi the big winner as political party funding game heats up". Daily Maverick. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  22. ^ IEC (29 February 2024). "Electoral Commission Issues Party Funding's Third Quarter Disclosure Report for the 2023-24 Financial Year".
  23. ^ Nyathi, Mandisa (2 March 2024). "Malema lashes out at Oppenheimer donation to Rise Mzansi". Mail and Guardian.
  24. ^ "PUBLISHED DECLARATIONS REPORT" (PDF). IEC. 30 August 2024.
  25. ^ X. 24 May 2024 https://x.com/VimleshRajbansi/status/1793905566328246272. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. ^ Dentlinger, Lindsay. "Good Party fills CoCT vacancy with Rise Mzansi's Axolile Notywala". EWN. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  27. ^ Charles, Marvin. "Rise Mzansi's Axolile Notywala in dual-membership role as he takes on GOOD party council job". News24. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  28. ^ "NPE Results Dashboard 2024". results.elections.org.za. Retrieved 14 June 2024.


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