The African Transformation Movement (ATM) on Thursday said it was ready to contest the upcoming general elections in May.

The party announced its premier candidates at a media briefing in Johannesburg.

ATM president Vuyolwethu Zungula told the media that his party, which is closely associated with former Government Communication Information System CEO Mzwanele Manyi, was ready to serve the people of South Africa.

Zungula said his party was growing from strength to strength and added that he was pleased that the party was represented in all nine provinces.  

The party held its national executive committee meeting in KwaZulu-Natal last Sunday where members discussed their campaigning strategy, which they believe will grow their membership leading up to the elections.

“Over the past couple of months the party has grown in all spheres of society as we have managed to open new branches in parts of Northern Cape and Limpopo. We have well established structures in other provinces, such as KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Western Cape and Free State,” said Zungula.

He said their candidates included known and unknown faces in the political sphere with some hailing from the African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters, Democratic Alliance and civic organisations.

Zungula said his party was formed by formidable and capable servants around key pillars which they believe needed to be implemented to improve the country.

These include justice-based capital punishment, which Zungula said was meant to curb violence; a labour convict system where prisoners are hired by the state to ease pressure on the public purse; a decolonised economy, to enable the country to be self-reliant; the emancipation of youth, which the party believes will be able to break a colonial construct that posits the view that Africans are not worthy by themselves without help from other nations; and the land issue, which the party feels should encompass marine, agricultural land, residential land, industrial land and commercial land. 

When asked about where the party stood on the issue of e-tolls in Gauteng, Zungula said it condemned e-tolls. 

Responding to where the party stands on the commissions currently in progresss in the country, ATM’s national spokesperson, Mandisa Mashiya said it was unfortunate that the commissions are about scoring political points in most cases. She said a lot of money was spent on such commissions which could have been spent on the needy people of South Africa.

“People are excited especially about the Zondo commission. The ATM is clear - put South Africa first and not the politicians. The commissions will always be good but intentions are to serve certain political organisations,” she said. 

The party also said it was against the unbundling of the power utility, Eskom, into three units. It said proper research should be done to find out where things started to go wrong at Eskom because it used to be a well-run organisation.

The names of the party’s premier candidates are:

• Eastern Cape – Veliswa Mvenyana
• Free State – British Siyekile Novas
• Gauteng – Eric Mthombeni
• KwaZulu-Natal – Mxolisi Phakathi
• Limpopo – Evodia Mokhotle Mokgotle
• Mpumalanga – Muntu Moses Gama
• Northern Cape – Daniel Thorn
• North West – Solomon Ngomane
• Western Cape – Emmanuel Adriaan Niekerk