Helen Suzman Foundation executive director Nicole Fritz is set to leave civil society to join former banker Roger Jardine in launching a new political movement that will contest the 2024 general election. 

Fritz, who has worked in civil society for almost two decades, joins other activists such as Mark Heywood, who have confirmed their move to the political arena.

Speaking to News24 on Friday, Fritz said she would be Jardine's lead political counsel.

"I think he has a very compelling message for South Africans," she said of her decision to join Jardine's political movement. 

The Helen Suzman Foundation on Friday announced Fritz's resignation. 

Jardine and a group of well-known South Africans are expected to announce a new political platform, which is yet to be registered as a political party, on Sunday. 

Last month, Jardine resigned as chair of the First Rand Group and has since had various meetings plotting his role in politics.

He has met with top Democratic Alliance leaders to discuss the possibility of being the presidential candidate for a group of opposition parties that have agreed to work together to oust the African National Congress. 

Fritz said the team Jardine assembled around him came from "various walks of life" and would ignite and excite public discourse. 

She said, "A political career has not been one I have contemplated before, but people across South Africa have to put up their hands. Now is the time to ensure there is a better future for South Africa."

Fritz said Jardin's message and track record in the state and business made him the best person to lead a new political future for South Africa. 

She said the country was in a precarious position and people were forced to work to protect constitutionalism. 

Fritz has an LLB from Wits University and an LLM from New York University. She has headed many NGOs, including Freedom Under Law (FUL) and the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC). 

Heywood echoed similar sentiments about why he decided to leave civil society for politics

"The political movement aims to be ambitious and bold, to become an alternative that can fix our country and that will centre itself on people of unquestionable integrity and an agenda to fix our country," he said.

It is unclear whether Jardine will contest the 2024 election as an independent candidate or launch a political party to contest the vote. 

The election comes 30 years after South Africa transitioned to democracy and could see the ANC's majority reduced.