FINETOWN, Johannesburg — Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane used the party’s final election rally in Finetown to make the case for ethical leadership and national unity, as the party prepares to contest its first Local Government Elections on 4 November.
Speaking to supporters and to the media at the Johannesburg gathering, Maimane said the party was confident its message had landed with voters, and that BOSA was positioning itself as an alternative built on community representation rather than the politics of division.
Close to 800 candidates, 24 municipalities, five provinces
Maimane told the crowd that the party had put up roughly 800 candidates across the country for its debut municipal outing, with the slate spread across 24 municipalities in five provinces.
He said the selection of candidates had been guided by a deliberate emphasis on character.
“We’ve put up the most ethical leadership because we believe in integrity, honesty, and god-fearing people,” Maimane said, adding that those candidates would be sent to councils “to do the work.”
The BOSA leader said he believed South Africans were rallying behind that slate, and that voters had signalled they wanted to build with all South Africans rather than be mobilised against one another.
A unity pitch in a divided landscape
Central to Maimane’s closing argument was the claim that BOSA can bring South Africans together across racial and social lines. He said the party’s message mattered precisely because the country continues to carry divisions between races and between genders, and that BOSA was calling all South Africans together at a moment when those divisions were becoming more visible.
The party has named ethical leadership, economic growth and safety as its key priorities for securing stability in municipalities, and says its focus is on representing communities and responding to their needs. BOSA is hoping to convert that platform into support in key metros, including Johannesburg.
Reflecting on the campaign trail, Maimane acknowledged that the run-up to the vote had produced “some highs and some lows,” and said the party had encountered stranded communities that have been forgotten.
Coalitions on principle, not convenience
With hung councils a familiar feature of South African local government, Maimane indicated that BOSA wants to be part of coalition arrangements — but only where there are shared principles. He ruled out partnerships with parties the organisation considers corrupt or racist.
He also pushed back against the suggestion that voters should not “waste” support on smaller parties, arguing that South Africa needs new political ideas.
“They are big, they are old, they are dying,” Maimane said of the established parties, accusing them of trying to dissuade voters from backing newer, growing and vibrant political formations.
“They want to make it as if it’s big versus small. I say to them categorically, it’s old versus new.”
Corruption first, then competent executives
On governance, the BOSA leader set out a sequence he said the party would follow where it holds influence: tackling corruption first, then appointing competent municipal executives and improving financial management.
The Finetown rally closed out BOSA’s campaign calendar days before polls open on 4 November — the first local government contest the party has entered since its formation, and its first test of whether a unity-and-integrity pitch can translate into council seats in South Africa’s largest metros.
