The great history of Mdantsane and how its people strove to overcome adversities inspired new political party, Rise Mzansi, to hold its first manifesto meeting in the township.
Rise Mzansi was officially launched in Johannesburg last week on Wednesday.
Led by Songezo Zibi, the party that will go against the ANC in national elections in 2024.
Zibi and his team started their groundwork in Mdantsane on Saturday, listening to the voices of the community and how they wanted the party to serve.
He said they had been building the political party and its name Rise Mzansi since 2022.
“Though Rise Mzansi is a political party we hope it will become a broad social movement.
"Society has problems and we need a combined effort with political leadership and civil society to solve them.”
He said this could not be archieved by the political fraternity alone but required society's involvement.
“Political parties can only make or change laws but when you have broader issues, you need leaders in society to rally around a vision, certain values and agendas to move forward.”
Zibi said they aimed to look on all inputs and build the party around them.
“We promise to lead in politics but other members of society need to be party of the journey.
"We made it clear we will use the framework to develop a people’s manifesto, which means involving communities.
"Therefore, if we want to build a manifesto with credibility, we need to ask them what should go into the manifesto.
"We decided to do the first event in Mdantsane and involve mostly young people.”
Zibi said they had mobilised in Mdantsane and surrounding areas.
Zibi said Mdantsane was the perfect place to hear the voices of people because of its history.
“We are not looking to change just the specific issues of load-shedding and service delivery; we are also looking to inspire SA.
"Mdantsane is representative of many things, the place was formed because of Apartheid, people were thrown at Mdantsane.
The township managed to reach great heights. It is home to world champions in boxing. People from Mdantsane overcame adversity to achieve great things.
"A boxing and sport culture developed in the township, but most importantly, people got used to succeeding and winning despite the adversities."
He said the party's aim was to give communities a platform where they can share their ideas.
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