Former editor and Rivonia Circle chairperson, Songezo Zibi, is set to launch a political movement to contest the 2024 national elections. 

Speaking to News24 on Monday evening, Zibi said the Rivonia Circle would not become a political party, but would launch a campaign under the banner #SAMustRise that will be on the ballot at the next polls.

Zibi explained that the think tank was calling it a political movement because "movement politics are something that is more than just about electing people". 

"If you are a movement, you have got to understand your priorities which need to be clear not just as a result of an election, but in between elections.

"If your priority area is to combat crime, then you need to focus on that on a daily basis," said Zibi. 

Explaining how the idea came about, Zibi said that on Saturday the Rivonia Circle convened over 500 patriotic South Africans to participate in a Mobilising People's Power to Rise workshop at venues in Johannesburg, East London, Mthatha, Mahikeng, and Durban.

Speakers and participants included UDM president Bantu Holomisa, Defend our Democracy convenor Reverend Frank Chikane, Voice of the People founder Faeeza Lok, and Ahmed Kathrada Foundation executive director Neeshan Balton.

"From this engagement, there was consensus from attendees that there was a need for a political movement. We then summarised our commitments towards achieving this movement in a pledge to each other," said Zibi. 

He explained that attendees agreed to mobilise a million people for the Rivonia Circle’s rise campaign.

"It's easy to say we want to form a political moment, but 600 people don't make a movement. A movement is when numerous South Africans buy into our ideology," Zibi said.

He explained that the political movement would have its own steering committee and participants would expand the machinery to convene this new organisation. At the same time, the Rivonia Circle would retain its own separate identity as a think tank.

Zibi said the current head of policy and research at the Rivonia Circle, Lukhona Mnguni, would take over more of the day-to-day running.

Zibi will take up the running of the steering committee, which would build the political movement. 

He said that as part of the pledge made by attendees, the rise campaign would participate in generating and implementing solutions, and as such, was seeking leaders with track records of "solutions, not promises".

Zibi said some of the movement's goals were to build a new political culture where public representatives were accountable to the people and not to political parties, and to build an economy that worked for everyone, not just a few. 

The former editor said he would like to have a website for the campaign up by Thursday to ensure that South Africans could start signing up. 

Zibi, together with like-minded South Africans, launched the Rivonia Circle earlier this year. 

Having noticed that the 2021 elections had the lowest voter turnout in the history of the country, as approximately 70% of the country's eligible voters did not head to the polls, the organisation focused on encouraging South Africans to participate in democracy building.