By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@ActionSA.
Kwena Mangope, the son of late former Bophuthatswana homeland leader Lucas Mangope, has been announced as ActionSA’s North West premier candidate ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Mangope is a retired army general with a combined 35 years of service in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force and the SANDF.
He is also a traditional chief in the Motsweding area.
Speaking at a media briefing in Randburg on Wednesday, Mangope said his campaign will focus on those living in rural areas.
“In my mind, as I accept this nomination, there is absolutely no doubt that ActionSA is the most viable alternative to the failed ANC government in our province. As Action SA, our focus as a party in the province is to help bring about the improvement of the lives of all people.
“Our province remains one of the most impoverished provinces, yet it sits atop one of the largest deposits of precious metal and mineral wealth in the world,” he added.
Mangope also vowed to implement the recommendations of the commission of inquiry into state capture in an effort to reintroduce clean governance in North West.
ActionSA leader, Herman Mashaba announced Mangope as the party’s premier candidate for the North West province.
Mashaba expressed confidence that Mangope was the perfect candidate to lead the party’s North West structure to victory during the 2024 general elections.
He also revealed that ActionSA decided to hold its elective conference next year because the 2024 national polls were the party’s priority before electing its leaders.
Mashaba said, at the elective conference, the party would elect its president and nine provincial chairpersons, who would each select their own teams to work with and that would be endorsed by the party’s senate.
“We don’t want to sit with a situation where you are the president, and the branches elect your adversary – someone you know very well that you’re not friends [with], they elect that person as your deputy or your secretary-general,” Mashaba added.
Mangope was ActionSA’s first premier candidate to be announced, and Mashaba said he was still recruiting other candidates for the eight remaining provinces.