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SA’s state of affairs justify calls for a political alternative By Itumeleng Maloka

In his keynote address, RISE Mzansi National Leader Songezo Zibi lamented the current state of affairs in South Africa, and he added that they showed that it was a good decision to form an alternative political party. This was during the first day of RISE Mzansi’s three day policy convention at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Zibi said the party, together with the people, needed to forge new answers. He noted that the old politicians and their political parties need to be taken out of power so that they can usher in an era of new leaders and politics that will yield better results for people. We are here because RISE Mzansi’s volunteers and supporters have decided that it is impossible to get better results while keeping the same, old, tired politicians and their political parties in place. They have no energy, no ideas, and no credibility. We need new leaders, and we need new politics because we need new answers Zibi said. Zibi added that the Party is undertaking work that has been neglected for 30 years. He noted that the only way to achieve the ideal of non-racialism is if there is economic justice. “As RISE Mzansi, we believe that non-racialism will only be realised when we have economic justice. This is not just about black people and women owning the productive economy. It is also about spatial planning and investment that works to reverse old spatial patterns that keep black people poor,” Rise Mzansi’s policy convention commenced on Friday. It hosted 800 delegates across the country to give their contribution or policy considerations with the goal of co-creating the people’s manifesto. Zibi spent a good half of his keynote address lamenting South Africa’s woes. He raised numerous issues that underpin a failing state amongst which were the issue of the government spending more on servicing debt than it does on health care, education and training, the 16-year long energy crisis, the issue of Eskom spending more on servicing loans than it does on maintaining SA’s electricity infrastructure, unemployment, and corruption. These issues that have persisted over the years have led to the formation of the party, which is deemed as a political alternative. Zibi believes that South Africans have the power to bring about change, that people want a strong massage, and the party must go and declare it with confidence.