Rise Mzansi’s Lukhona Mnguni eyes Joburg mayoral chains - TimesLIVE

Rise Mzansi has set its sights on the City of Johannesburg, putting forward former political analyst Lukhona Mnguni as their mayoral candidate.

The party, which made its electoral debut in the 2024 national and provincial elections, says it believes it stands a fighting chance in the economic capital because of their electoral showing in the city.

Mnguni dismissed the criticism that Rise Mzansi is a “small party” and said they won’t be distracted from their mission.

“In Joburg, Rise Mzansi was the seventh largest party in 2024 at 1.5%. If we got that percentage of votes today on both ballots in the local government election, we would have five seats out of 270 seats. In parliament we’ve got two seats out of 400.

“You do the math, our percentage weight in Joburg is far stronger. We are not just a small party; we are serious about giving people a preposition about building into the future. I would rather build. For context, the Democratic Alliance was once a 1.7% party in 1994, but they quickly forget and want to scare voters from considering proper alternatives like Rise Mzansi.”

He appealed to middle-class voters during a campaign interaction in Bryanston, saying their disengagement is the cause of the decline in governance.

“People like us have disengaged from politics for a very long time, much to the disservice of our country. We all know that something needs to change, but at the very same time we tend to bash those who are trying to do something about it. For some strange reason I don’t know who we think must effect the change. We’ve got to start somewhere.”

The Rise Mzansi mayoral hopeful said his first stop would be to root out corruption and the culture embedded in the city, if elected.

“We want to vote amasela out. The word, translated to thieves, represents an ecosystem of wrongdoing. It exists in the administration, the political leadership of the city, as well as those who call themselves businesspeople simply because they possess a CIPC registration number but are actually criminals masquerading as service providers.”

Mnguni said their starting point will be to get rid of that, starting at the top.

“We need to start with the executives, senior managers. In the Gauteng government a number of people have failed and they must go. Next will be skills audits because the testimonies before the c commission tell us that especially in the police departments of cities, there are a lot of people who are not fit for purpose.”

He vowed to fix procurement and make the process as transparent as possible.

“We bid evaluation and adjudication committees must be recorded. When a successful bidder is announced, those recordings must be published. You don’t want another Madlanga situation where a witness will claim to not remember how they interacted in a meeting and the minutes of the meeting are vague. We must hear the voice of the person, what they are saying and how they are justifying the choice that they have made.”

Mnguni said this move will crowd the accountability space and people will have a lot of information to work with, rather than having to go through PAIA applications.

Due to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s intervention in the City of Johannesburg through the presidential working group, Mnguni said the use of the presidency’s resources will come in handy.

“Fortunately, because the president has invited himself in the City of Joburg, there is one institution in his office called the state security agency. We need an intelligence-led process to clamp down on hijacked buildings.”

He referred to Rise Mzansi’s manifesto, which includes an infrastructure development fund, instilling meaningful public participation and addressing spatial inequality.

Mnguni said Rise Mzansi is a party of social democrats who are deeply embedded in social justice and urged voters in this election to consider the bigger picture.

“Elections are beyond the pothole. You have been made to believe that our greatest problem is water that doesn’t flow from our taps, potholes that damage your tyres and electricity that isn’t always reliable. You have been stunted not to imagine and think about a more just, equitable and fair Johannesburg that caters for all its residents.”