Africa-Press – South-Africa. On its mission for democratic transformation, Rise Mzansi offered details relating to its “People’s Manifesto” process as it gears for the upcoming elections.
Preparing for its People’s Manifesto convention in September, the two-month-old party claimed to have established its presence in eight of the nine provinces, including Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, its leader, Songezo Zibi, said Rise Mzansi’s programme would focus on three main elements: building community relations, engaging with South Africans on what they sought from a political reset, and encouraging democratic participation.
He said the party, through what it calls a social democratic alternative, will interact with communities nationwide to discuss and adopt the ideologies that would make up its manifesto.
Zibi said: “The People’s Manifesto will be the most responsive, people-centred political undertaking since the dawn of democracy. Our policy choices and proposals will demonstrate the shifts Rise Mzansi believes are necessary to turn South Africa around and make democracy meaningful for the majority of South Africans.”
He added that three focus areas would influence the manifesto:
“Rise Mzansi is preparing a package of political reforms that will result in a better and more democratic electoral system, build a culture of political accountability, and a stronger Parliament that is able to hold the government to account,” said Zibi.
“The people will vote for people they know, where MPs and MPLs will have demarcated constituencies and guidelines for accounting to the people on a regular basis.”
The second focus area would be drug and mental health issues in communities and families, which Zibi said were often overlooked and “got nearly zero public health response”.
“People who suffer from drug addiction are regarded as criminals to be jailed, instead of receiving the care human-centred health policies should deliver,” he said.
Zibi said the party’s final area of concern would be safety issues and crime throughout the country.
He said the purpose of the manifesto was to provide communities “with a megaphone to articulate their issues and the accompanying solutions”.
Zibi added: “It is time for a new non-racialism premised on the values of justice and freedom, with equality, solidarity and integrity as indivisible, supporting social democratic values. We must have measurable, specific economic justice targets for our nation-building.”
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