Political newcomer Rise Mzansi pleased with their election showing

JOHANNESBURG - With more than 30% of the voting districts counted, political newcomer Rise Mzansi said that it was pleased with its showing so far.

Out of the 3.8 million votes counted, Rise Mzansi has just over 13,000.

In terms of parties contesting their first elections, only uMkhonto weSizwe and the Cape Coloured Congress are doing better than Rise Mzansi.

However, 13,000 votes is still a long way from securing even one seat in Parliament.

Rise Mzansi’s chief organiser, Makashule Gana, said that he was encouraged that so many people had put their faith towards a new party.

"Yeah that is what encourages me, we gave hope to many South Africans, people who maybe if Rise Mzansi was not there, they could have decided not to vote but (did) because Rise Mzansi was on the ballot in all nine provinces."

Gana said that they expected their numbers to grow as more votes from urban districts came in.