Mmusi Miamane and Herman Mashaba have teamed for The People’s Dialogue. Image via Twitter @MmusiMaimane
The People’s Dialogue: Life after DA for Maimane and Mashaba
After weeks of speculation and uncertainty, Herman Mashaba and Mmusi Maimane have confirmed what they’re working on after leaving their political positions.
Mmusi Miamane and Herman Mashaba have teamed for The People’s Dialogue. Image via Twitter @MmusiMaimane
Here’s what we know about the two politicians’ joint project – The People’s Dialogue – so far:
Maimane and Mashaba team up on new platform
Having held prominent leadership positions with the party, Mashaba and Maimane resigned within days from each other. Mashaba resigned from the DA with immediate effect on October 21 and gave notice as mayor, still serving until November 27.
At the time, Mashaba cited his reasons for leaving as being Helen Zille’s election as the party’s federal council chairperson and concerns over the direction the DA.
Maimane followed suit on October 23, officially resigning as a member of parliament and then relinquishing his position as DA leader the following day.
Since then, both men have hinted at their plans to continue to work together and on Friday 6 December, they have officially announced their launch of The People’s Dialogue.
Had the great privilege of serving with this great South African @HermanMashaba. He has served the citizens of Joburg with distinction. We now charter a way forward where future generations can be served by individuals who place citizens first. Ke a leboga Kgosi. pic.twitter.com/oXcr6CcEQp
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) November 27, 2019
The People’s Dialogue is not a political party
Though they both have experience as politicians, The People’s Dialogue is more of a civil society platform than a new party.
In an interview with eNCA, Maimane shared his reservations about following the expected route after his resignation – which would have been to either join another party or to start a new one.
“What I know is that the system we have now doesn’t work. So, at the right time, we will be able to communicate what that will look like and how we will engage more with society.”
Maimane shared his belief that innovative solutions are required.
“A new political party may simply be saying let’s add another colour to the many colours of political parties that exist. We need a new coalition, a new vehicle. When we understand what a new vehicle looks like, it ought to get back to citizens.
“More citizens must have a dialogue. For starters I think we must have a conversation in South Africa.
“A new political party may simply be saying let’s add another colour to the many colours of political parties that exist. We need a new coalition, a new vehicle,” he said.
For now, it’s online
On the homepage of The People’s Dialogue, there’s little background information about either Mashaba or Maimane; nor much clarity on how the platform works.
It seems, that their current focus is on collecting feedback from South Africans.
The site asks two questions. The first one – “What do you think are the most important issues facing South Africa today?” – may be the easier of the two to answer as it comes with tick boxes, such as rampant crime, bad healthcare and lack of housing.
The second one requires perhaps a little more thinking: What do you think needs to be done to save South Africa? It’s designed to be filled in in paragraph form.
It’s not yet known how Maimane and Mashaba will respond to the input, but for now, they’ve initiated the dialogue.
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