Change Starts now is a political project formed in late 2023 to bring together people and organisations who want to reclaim their future.
We believe many people have lost hope in the current political options and, as we approach the 2024 elections, there’s a need for new ideas, new approaches and new people to take the lead.
We believe South Africa can be a much better country than it is today, and that the 2024 election offers us all a huge opportunity to change how the country is governed and who should govern it.
What does Change Starts Now stand for?
We have a deep belief that the Constitution of the Republic is rooted in values, rights and responsibilities that are important to all who live in South Africa. It allows for the creation of a state in which every South African can reach their full potential in a democratic, non-racial and prosperous country.
Change Starts Now has brought together a team of progressive, talented and experienced South Africans who have demonstrated through their work their belief in the constitutional values of democracy and human rights. We share a powerful belief that South Africa can be turned into a country of hope and fulfilment for everyone who lives in it.
Of course, this movement can only be a political force for change if it earns the trust of the people. We have started sharing our ideas and learning from those who experience the state in their communities, homes, schools, factories, offices, hospitals and taxis, to ensure the best possible solutions.
Is Change Starts Now going to contest the elections?
Change Starts Now will register a political party to contest the 2024 elections. We will seek to build a political alliance of millions of like-minded South Africans and with new and existing political formations who share these universal beliefs and values so lacking in our national condition.
Our approach is collaborative. We will mobilise and leverage the capacities and capabilities of every sector of our society, including workers, young people, the private sector, the public sector, social movements, civil society movements and community-based organisations.
What does Change Starts Now see as the major problems right now?
After a hopeful beginning on the democratic pathway, things have turned for the worse through poor leadership, mis-governance, complacency, neglect, corruption and a failure to meaningfully resolve past injustices.
This has resulted in worsening poverty, unemployment, inequality, racial hatreds and tribalism and deep distrust of the government. The effects of this are seen in the severe erosion of social cohesion and a stalled transformation of society.
From the glory days of 1994, we have descended into the darkness that is 2024. We now live in a country where too many politicians lie, deceive and steal; where politicians appoint crony-comrades to everything from hospitals to vital SOEs like Eskom or the Water Boards; where the good public servants are silenced by the politically and criminally connected.
That is why everything is broken. And getting worse by the day.As a result, everyone is gatvol. Polls carried out by Change Starts Now show that people no longer want to be governed by the ANC, a party with a heroic past but a dismal present. They show the ANC may get as little as 40% of the vote. But, be warned: 2024 is a moment of opportunity and danger. We have to act now. Together.
How is Change Starts Now going to bring about change?
The overarching aim of our platform is to ensure that all South Africans will live dignified and secure lives.
We believe that when young people have little to no hope of getting decent work; when police fail to attend to communities preyed on by criminals; when students have to study in darkness; when children go to bed hungry; when our ill and infirm must queue for hours outside hospitals and still be turned away untreated; when our elderly must wait for hours in the sun and rain for grants; that their dignity is eroded. Change Starts Now is going to claim it back.
We are deeply motivated by the belief that the hopeful future all South Africans want and deserve can be realised by accomplishing three big things:
• Build a functional and capable state;
• Create the conditions necessary for an inclusive and growing economy; and
• Inspire all South Africans to unite and develop an indivisible nationhood.
Change Starts Now will work hard to instil hope and confidence among South Africans who have grown despondent about our enduring democracy or who feel overwhelming hopelessness that they will ever escape poverty.
What makes Change Starts Now different from other political players?
Our politics makes us different.
Our politics and philosophy is one of South Africa standing for and with its people and of us, the people of South Africa, standing for and with each other. It is a politics and the practise of our Constitution and its values.
It is a politics of social justice.
It is a politics involving collaboration that we will lead. Change Starts Now is uniquely positioned to do this: mobilising and leveraging the capacities and capabilities of every sector, including political parties, civil society, workers, women, the youth, the private and public sectors. We know what each can bring, welcome and celebrate the contributions, and understand each of these actors intimately.
It is a politics requiring some game-changing ideas. It is also a politics requiring exemplary leadership.
We see the needs of South Africa’s people; we have the insight and humility to listen carefully and to engage them in the design of solutions: and we have the expertise of careful planning, implementation and delivery.
How can people get involved?
Change cannot succeed without you. This is why we’ve started a listening and learning process so we can hear first-hand the key challenges you’re confronting -- but also because we know that there can be no realistic resolution without your input. It is you, facing these issues day-in and day-out, who is best placed to explain how to fix them.
The most important step is to vote in this year’s elections. And if you're not registered to vote, to register as soon as possible. That’s the biggest difference we can all make.
Change Starts Now asks you to be the change you want to see. Join us to make South Africa a better country. Work in partnership with us for change in your communities. Help us persuade other South Africans to choose a better future.
Is there any connection with Change SA?
No. These are two separate and unrelated organisations.
