JOHANNESBURG – Rise Mzansi recently announced Lukhona Mnguni as their mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg, and he believes he is the right man for the job.
When talking about the other names in the hat for the role, like ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba, DA’s Helen Zille and IFP’s Mlungisi Mabaso, Mnguni said he does not view them as competition.
“I actually don’t find them to be competition. I think I bring something completely different. I said to the team that when we launch, we are going to launch and elevate.
"Mabaso is a good brother. I’ve known him for some time. Kenny Kunene, I can’t discuss. I don’t think convicts should be anywhere near the public purse.
"When we talk about Helen and Herman, you’re going to see in this campaign an elevated language of politics, transformation… while they are telling you ‘don’t bring ideology, don’t bring politics, let’s fix potholes, let’s fix street lights’. They are lying, they’re trying to create an opportunity.”
Mnguni said one of the reasons that prompted him to enter the race was the absence of politics in the local government race.
He said service delivery is dependent on politics, “that’s why we talk about political will.”
“The key priority is getting rid of amasela, the thieves, the corrupt. The people who siphon money out of the city. Part of the problem in the City of Johannesburg is just the procurement process and procedures. So, we’ve got to transform that procurement system. You’ve got to make it less manual, as it currently is. There is enough technology around the world that has improved procurement systems to ensure that there’s as little leakage as possible,” he said.