Johannesburg's former mayor Herman Mashaba launched an online platform on Friday to "engage South Africans from all walks of life" on how to build a better country.

The initiative comes after his former party‚ the DA‚ lost control of the Tshwane and Johannesburg metros.

Mashaba said the initiative was called The People's Dialogue.

“Like many South Africans‚ I have lost faith in our political system. Nothing could demonstrate this more than the events that have taken place over the past 48 hours across major metros in South Africa‚” he said in a statement.

He slammed politicians who he accused of operating with self-interest as their primary driver of decision-making‚ and not in the interest of ordinary South Africans.

“Despite this‚ in my time as the mayor of Johannesburg‚ I have been fortunate to meet thousands of South Africans from all backgrounds. They have confirmed my deep-seated belief that our country is loaded with potential. We are a proud people and desire to live in a country that works‚ but we are held back from that possibility by our political system‚” said Mashaba.

He was confident that ordinary citizens‚ who shared a desire to save the country‚ were capable of finding innovative solutions.

Following his resignation from the DA and as mayor‚ Mashaba said he would start engaging citizens on his Twitter and Facebook pages‚ and on www.thepeoplesdialogue.org.za

“While we will start slowly over the month of December‚ it will pick up speed in January 2020 when we begin to engage on the solutions to our biggest challenges. Solutions put forward by ordinary South Africans‚” he said.

"We can no longer leave our future‚ as a people‚ to our political system. We have to be animated by a love of our country and by a belief that we can fix South Africa."