A new political party, the African Renaissance Unity (ARU) party is set to launch across the country later this year with aims of being in government by 2019.
The party which describes itself as a “government in waiting” has already set its sights on the 2019 National General Elections.
In a launch statement on 23 March 2018, the ARU says that it is being “empowered by a think-tank which is setting various short, medium and long term policies to address all the challenges facing our people and restore the damage of apartheid and the successive government.”
Although a formal launch date has not yet been set, the party’s Secretary General, Bob Jansen says that the ARU has plans to launch across various provinces later this year.
He explains that the ARU has an explicit aim of bringing back “power to the people.”
“People are saying they want their traditional powers back,” adds Jansen.
Led by the Amahlubi Monarch, King Brayce Mthimkhulu III, the ARU said in a statement that it is a “collective authority of the people of South Africa by their traditional leadership,” and that under this collective it represents ordinary South Africans, Traditional Communities and Traditional Leadership.
Jansen says that there is widely felt dissatisfaction among traditional leaders about their powers being taken away from them. It was for this reason, Jansen adds, that traditional leaders across South Africa approached King Brayce Mthimkhulu III to form the ARU.
