Anti-activist and businessman Roger Jardine officially launched his political movement on Sunday – The Change Starts Now – as he sets his sights on the Union Buildings.
Jardine said the movement consists of an intergenerational group of dedicated citizens with experience in politics, business, and civil society to “collaboratively deliver change by building a broad governing coalition in which all South Africans feel represented and heard”.
Jardine, described as a seasoned business figure, stepped down as the chair of banking group FirstRand earlier this month.
In 1994, at 29, he was appointed director-general of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, later serving as CEO of Kagiso Media, Aveng Group, and Primedia before becoming FirstRand chair.
Jardine was an activist with the United Democratic Front while his father, Bill, was involved in anti-apartheid activism and contributed to sports unification in the country.
Another anti-apartheid activist Murphy Morobe – one of the student leaders involved in the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings and who had been involved in trade unionism, politics, conservation, and the non-governmental, public, and corporate sectors for more than 40 years –is also expected to join the movement.
There are also suggestions that Mavuso Msimang, who resigned from the ANC Veterans League last week citing corruption in the party, may also join.
Two civil society activists Mark Heywood and Nicole Fritz have already confirmed they will be working with Jardine.
He recently met with DA leaders John Steenhuisen and Helen Zille with suggestions that Jardine was being touted as a potential presidential candidate for the Multi-Party Charter.
Still, other MPC leaders have distanced themselves from any negotiations that involve such discussions.
Speaking in his hometown of Riverlea, south of Johannesburg, Sunday, Jardine said the Change Starts Now movement would bring together those who wanted to help make political change in 2024 but needed more convincing by the choices.
“That is the democracy we fought for and delivered in 1994. Now, in 2024, we must take responsibility for it. I believe we can. I know we can.”
Jardine said he was inspired because he shared the clarity of thought and purpose of many who chose hope rather than cynicism.
“Today, in this place of personal memory and symbolism, I ask you all to join us on this journey of political rehabilitation and national redemption. I humbly ask you to inspire us with your thoughts and ideas, to direct us on how to make what you wish for yourselves, your children, and your communities a reality.”
He said he wanted to make a specific appeal directly to the young people of South Africa.
“Join us, invest in us with your energy, your dynamism, your determination, your new ideas. While you are rightly jaded by the mediocrity of the state and our politics, you are rightly frustrated at the lack of pathways to fulfil your potential,” Jardine said.
He said the task could not be more urgent and “we are obliged to act in the interests of our beautiful people and great country”.
“Today, we begin with that task by introducing a platform we have constructed. We hope to turn this platform into a national movement intent on setting the country on a new path. We should not be forced to choose between those who only want to break things and those who have forgotten how to build things.”
Jardine said South Africa needed leadership that was capable of fixing a complex, broken state, premised on constructive co-operation, capable of reforming the public sector into a modern, fit-for-purpose function and delivering constitutional obligations to citizens.
“We should not act as if we have no choice but to let an ANC-led government back into power, a government which has become the face of corruption, the face of an uncaring, self-absorbed and incompetent state,” Jardine said.
He said the country required people from all walks of life, political formations, and from all sectors of society to work together to build a broad coalition that will bring political change.
“We disagree on a lot, but most of us agree on one thing: we cannot continue like this. We cannot continue to give power to those who have sworn to uphold the constitutional promise to restore dignity but instead are taking our dignity away from us.”
The Mercury