From the death penalty to scrapping low pass marks: Manyi's ambitions for the ATM

Just two days after he announced the African Transformation Movement (ATM) as his new political home, Mzwanele Manyi said the party would bring back the death penalty and scrap low pass marks in public schools if it came to power. 

In an interview with SABC News on Thursday, Manyi, chief of policy and strategy for the ATM, said: “It’s [ATM] a party that also wants to bring about capital punishment. We know that the constitution doesn’t allow it, but we’ll change the constitution. 

“It cannot be that the rights of the killers are respected more than the rights of those that are being killed. South Africa is a haven for thugs, people kill other people elsewhere and run to South Africa for safety,” he said. 

On Thursday, Manyi tweeted that the ATM would scrap low pass marks in the basic education system should it win the elections. 

He based his tweet on the Department of Basic Education’s bid to lower the minimum pass mark required to progress in Grades 7, 8 and 9, which would see learners who achieved 30% in three subjects proceed to the next grade. 

The former government spokesman announced that he had joined the ATM after being a member of the ANC for decades, saying the “ANC is tired, fatigued and lost its moral compass”.