Breaking ideological shackles key to Unite for Change survival

THE unveiling of Unite for Change (UFC) by Patricia de Lille, Mmusi Maimane and Songezo Zibi could mark a turning point in South Africa’s political landscape.

- ZAMIKHAYA MASETI

RISE Mzansi Leader Songezo Zibi, left, GOOD Party leader Patricia de Lille and leader of Build One South Africa (BOSA) Dr Mmusi Maimane, announced their new political party, Unite for Change, in Rosebank on October 5.

(ITUMELENG ENGLISH Independent Newspapers)

This new formation may offer voters a long-term, credible alternative, one that transcends the entrenched partisan divides of the post-apartheid era.

Positioned as a centrist political movement, Unite for Change emphasises national renewal over narrow party interests. Its architects seek to rally South Africans behind a shared vision grounded in ethical leadership, economic recovery, service delivery and justice.

The movement seeks to reshape the national conversation, away from ideological rigidity and factionalism, toward a pragmatic agenda for reconstruction.

If successful, UFC could reconfigure the balance of forces within South Africa’s maturing democracy and introduce a viable middle ground to an otherwise polarised system.

Politics, like nature, is a ruthless ecosystem — there is no sanctuary for the weak. This analogy captures the current state of South African politics, an ecosystem of moral exhaustion and institutional decay.

Into this vacuum steps Unite for Change, seeking to occupy the moral and political space left open by failing incumbents and fatigued opposition parties. The movement's challenge is not only to present itself as new, but to inspire the disillusioned majority to believe once again that democracy can deliver.

The tragedy of the post-1994 political evolution is that those entrusted with revolutionary transformation have abandoned the post. Authority has eroded, moral clarity dimmed, conscience subdued by the sins of incumbency.