ActionSA and Rise Mzansi are among the first political parties not represented in parliament to declare their readiness to contest the May 29 national and provincial elections.

Parties need to meet newly amended Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) deadlines that stipulate what requirements are necessary for smaller parties to make the cut and appear on the ballot paper. 

ActionSA chairperson Michael Beaumont said his party's recipe for success was that they viewed the new legislation as an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

“We viewed the signature requirement as canvassing. Every political party should welcome canvassing rather than challenge it in court. We know the establishment is trying to make it harder for entrants into the market, but given the chance that we would have to campaign to hundreds of thousands and millions of people we viewed it as power for the cause,” he said.

Beaumont said incumbent parties were in a position to ringfence entry but chose to attack it head on after ActionSA's first elections appearance in the 2021 local government elections.

“ActionSA has worked to build structures on the ground since the end of the 2021 local government elections. We have branches launched in 50% of the wards of South Africa.

“There are some newer parties that exist in the ether and on social media and you can't fill in petitions and get signatures in the ether, as some people have recently learnt. We followed the recent jurisprudence closely last year that produced the changes in electoral rules. We were ready to walk to the timelines.”

The party has concluded all its filings with the IEC that will ensure it is on every ballot paper in the nine provinces.

“ActionSA’s election deposits have been paid in full and that will ensure the party will contest nationally and in each of the nine provinces. Candidate lists have been submitted for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures that combine diversity, excellence, youth and experience in a manner that will disrupt these bodies that have become beacons of failure to the South African people.”

Rise Mzansi national chairperson Cilna Steyn said her party was also tying up loose ends with the IEC, bringing it closer to securing its spot on the ballot paper.

“On Wednesday our election deposit of R750,000 has been received and accepted by the IEC, meaning we have met another administrative process [before the] elections. This is over and above complying with the signature requirements for unrepresented political parties,” she said.

The party boasted being one of the few “unrepresented” political parties that has managed to meet the signature requirements nationally and in all nine provinces.

“This past weekend, Rise Mzansi's national leadership collective signed off on all 19 of its candidate lists, namely nine regional-to-regional, nine regional-to-national and one national-to-national list.

“We have a formidable list of new leaders who we will present to the people of South Africa in the coming weeks. Rise Mzansi is finalising the profiles of its candidates on the IEC system, a process we are confident will be completed before the deadline of Friday March 8.”

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