Activist turned businessman Roger Jardine states political ambitions
Activist and former FirstRand chair Roger Jardine says he will not be bullied into backing down from active politics ahead of the 2024 general elections.
He also seems adamant that he will not be forced to side with one established political party or another.
“I am inspired that so many have not yet become cynical. I am inspired by those that have keenly observed and examined the increasingly chaotic meandering of a government without a plan, a state without ideas, a public service without leadership and a political establishment with no store of imagination. All of these seemingly unable to find there way back to the path of progress,” Jardine said. He announced his political ambitions in the south of Johannesburg on Sunday, flanked by past and present community leaders in Soweto, a constituency that was a stronghold for the governing ANC.
“In 2024 we will be faced with a choice to continue down the path we are on either by continuing to place faith in a party that has abandoned its principles, its mission and our people or by standing on the sidelines or we can try to change the road we are on by saying we are not happy with the political parties we currently have,” Jardine said.
Jardine is no stranger to government and politics. He comes from an activist background and was one of the youngest directors-general, appointed at 29 to head the department of arts, culture & technology in the government of Nelson Mandela.
With polls showing the ANC could lose its electoral majority, the focus is on the type of coalitions that might emerge after the election. Earlier this year the DA championed the formation of the multiparty coalition, recognising no single opposition party will be able to garner enough votes to oust the ANC from power. The charter includes the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and ActionSA.
Reiterating his message that voters hold the power to change SA’s political future, Jardine said South Africans were “responsible for who governs us and if we do not like the choices before us, we can create our own choices. That is the democracy we fought for and achieved in 1994”. There has been media speculation around Jardine’s ambitions to stand as the presidential candidate for the opposition coalition.
Joining Jardine on stage on Sunday was ANC stalwart Murphy Morobe, who has long been critical of the party.
“The struggle continues. This is a nightmare that is unfolding in slow motion. We ask what has gone wrong since we were the world’s shining example of possibility ... We need a steady hand that will pull ourselves out of the quagmire,” Morobe said.