Former Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba has confirmed that he will be forming a new political party this year, according to City Press.
According to the report, the launch of the new party would be announced at the end of June.
Mashaba said it would be a ‘people-driven political party’ that would be ‘free from the constraints of political ideology and political self-interest’. It would contest the 2021 local government elections.
City Press said Mashaba would not be drawn on whether former DA leader Mmusi Maimane would be involved in the party.
Maimane has been active in the People’s Dialogue platform Mashaba launched shortly after quitting the DA in October after the election of former Western Cape premier Helen Zille as DA federal council chairperson.
Mashaba reportedly said the new party would be influenced by public contributions to the People’s Dialogue initiative, which he had launched to enable ‘ordinary South Africans to make their voices heard in an effort to define a shared vision for the future’.