ACM leader Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Image: Facebook/Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
2024 elections: Hlaudi Motsoeneng for President?
Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng is hopeful that his political party. the ACM, will do well in the upcoming 2024 elections.
ACM leader Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Image: Facebook/Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Despite failing to secure a single seat in the 2019 elections, former SABC chief operations officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng is not deterred. He hopes his party, the African Content Movement (ACM), will do well in the upcoming 2024 elections.
South Africa is heading to the polls on 29 May. The 2024 elections are regarded as the most important since the dawn of democracy. Analysts and polls suggest that the ANC will get less than 50% votes nationally. The party has been in power since 1994.
COULD HLAUDI MOTSOENENG BECOME PRESIDENT?
South Africans are grappling with several challenges: the load-shedding crisis, dry taps, high unemployment rate, inequality, and high cost of living.
Most South Africans are fed up with politicians who make promises of a better life and fail to keep them. This has opened a door for activists and opportunists to mobilise and try to dethrone the ruling party.
On the positive side, independent candidates continue to do well, especially in local government elections. Conversely, opportunists and populists don’t last long in politics. Where does Hlaudi Motsoeneng rank, is he an activist or a populist?
Motsoeneng launched his party in December 2018, hoping to get a seat in Parliament. Sadly, his party only managed to secure just over 4000 votes nationally.
Following the disappointing performance, the former COO said his party’s members voted next to other parties with similar acronyms.
“They had already explained that, and you must remember, we are a four-month-old party, so some people were not sure when they went to the ballot box,” he told TimesLIVE.
Fast forward to 2024, Motsoeneng tops the list of candidates who will go to Parliament should the party secure enough seats.
The former COO said that he will contest in the Free State and national only to build a foundation in his province, especially where in Maluti-a-Phofung where he was born.
‘MY ENEMIES ARE AFTER ME’
As previously reported by The South African, Motsoeneng was fired by the SABC in June 2017 after an internal disciplinary hearing found him to have lied about his qualifications.
He lost his title of chief operations officer at the SABC after a court set aside his appointment. He was also found guilty of bringing the SABC into disrepute and causing irreparable damage.
In 2022, Motsoeneng alleged there was a political plot against him.
This was after the SABC and the Special Investigating Unit ordered him to pay back over R2.5 million in ‘gratitude’ funds handed over to music legends during his time at the public broadcaster.
“Look, I have been saying this is more political because I am aware that all these politicians, especially those who are against me if they don’t tarnish my name, I will emerge as one of the leaders of South Africa. I don’t regret or apologise for what I did. People are terrified of me,” he said in an interview with eNCA.
In December 2011, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled that Motsoeneng should pay R11.5 million back to the SABC with interest calculated at 15.5% annually. This interest is calculated from 13 September 2016 to the date of payment.
Motsoeneng tried to overturn the ruling but failed.
