New political party is set to be born

Boy Mamabolo is determined to register his Born to Win party after resigning from the ANC

- Lunga Mzangwe

Former ANC MP Boy Mamabolo says he will not challenge the refusal by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to register his party under the name Mandela for President and will instead register a new organisation called Born to Win.

Last week, the IEC said it had rejected Mamabolo's application to register the party over concerns that its original name and its green-and-black branding could mislead voters into associating it with Nelson Mandela and the ANC.

Mamabolo appealed the decision but told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday that he was letting this go.

“We have forfeited the money we used to register Mandela for President and we won't be challenging it. What we want to do is get a million signatures then register Born to Win. We want to make history,” Mamabolo said.

Mamabolo had earlier in the week said he had got more than 10 000 signatures to support the registration of Born to Win. Most of them were from ANC members, he said, vowing that his new party would “eat” support from his former political home and the Economic Freedom Fighters.