POLL | Herman Mashaba to launch new political party in June - a progressive move or waste of time?

After two months spent launching “The People's Dialogue”, former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba confirmed to City Press that he is starting a new political party and will announce its launch in June.

The party, according to Mashaba, will contest the 2021 local government elections.

“What I can confirm right now is that a new political formation will be announced by June, latest. A political party will definitely be formed and we are definitely going to participate in the 2021 local government elections,” he told the publication.

Confirming the report, Mashaba called for South Africans to join the party as volunteers.

On Monday, Mashaba said the “The People's Dialogue”, had been well received and the campaign has reached more than 13.7-million South Africans through social media, resulting in close to a million engagements as people shared their views on the state of SA.

“The message coming from the people has been clear. Dialogue is important but only if it's linked to action and providing a political alternative to the system that has failed us so fundamentally,” he said in a statement.

Mashaba has already hit the ground running.

Last week, TimesLIVE reported on his offer to help the families of three Lily mine employees who were trapped when a central pillar collapsed into a sinkhole on February 5 2016.

“My role is to get you a top legal firm that can assist you. I want to get this container [in which the three were trapped] out because I'm not prepared to accept that we don't have the capacity to get the container out.”