Cape Town — Leader of Rise Mzansi, Songezo Zibi, has put the speculation to bed about working with Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, adding that forming a coalition with the African National Congress (ANC) is not their first choice option either.
Zibi was speaking at teh Xibera Institute for Research Development in Durban where he was asked about the possibility of entering a coalition with Jacob Zuma and the MK party. as well as , which he did not rule out completely, TimesLIVE reported.
“No! The former president represents the past we must move away from. I want nothing that is forward looking from that generation.” Zibi said of Zuma.
He did not rule out the possibility of working alongside President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC.
“If the South African people decide not to give the ANC the majority, we are not the ones who will resurrect them from that grave. If the ANC was left with the choice of going with a party we consider to be against the interest of the people or [going with] ourselves to form a government, then we would step into the breach,” he said.
#RISEMzansi National Leader, @SongezoZibi is at @xuberaird speaking on the evolution of RISE Mzansi, its vision, election projections nationally, the #RISEPeoplesManifesto but in particular the election battleground of KwaZulu-Natal. #WeNeedNewLeaders#2024IsOur1994 pic.twitter.com/725m2zRxqP
— RISE Mzansi KZN (@RiseMzansiKZN) February 15, 2024
Zibi said a coalition should be considered based on whether the involved parties would be good for the country and the interest’s of the people, while also adding that the party gave up “R70m-R80m” by rejecting the chance to join the multi-party charter.
The party’s funding was questioned by ANC secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, and EFF leader, Julius Malema, who insinuated they are funded by foreign governments who want to see a regime change in South Africa.
Zibi said the party’s current funding model is three-fold, with the first being themselves and volunteers. The second is that people who ‘earn a decent income or have small to medium business” who support the party through professional services.
“There’s an idea out there that we are flush with cash but our own volunteers do the Lord’s work with money they don’t have. About 15-20 people who gave us R90K could have afforded to give us a million rand each but they are afraid of being victimised by the ANC.” Zibi added.
Then there are those who donate between R100,000 and a couple of million and who “don’t mind being disclosed at IEC”.
He said those who support the party do so because they believe in the party’s vision.
I am at the Xubera Institute for Research and Development in Durban this evening talking about the evolution of @Rise_Mzansi , our vision to build a safe, equal, united and prosperous South Africa in one generation and our election projections nationally. pic.twitter.com/pTVrEqDjDK
— Songezo Zibi (@SongezoZibi) February 15, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
