Comedian Eugene Khoza has secured 1,000 votes in his bid to become an independent candidate in Parliament, for the upcoming May 29 elections.
Khoza is being backed by Mac G, whose real name is Macgyver Mukhwevho, and the ‘chillers’ community of upto one million YouTube subscribers to represent their interests in Parliament.
The idea to rally behind Khoza came with former Metro FM producer JJ Sessing, who was a guest on the podcast after Podcast and Chill co-host Sol Phenduka fell ill after a recent trip to Miami.
In this week’s episode of the podcast, Mukhwevho cleared the air on how the move to back Khoza happened.
Mac G is not running, he is backing Eugene
An earlier report on IOL questioned if Mac G could be going to parliament as an independent candidate, but it has now been clarified that the shock jock was using his influence to rally behind Khoza to garner 1,000 signatures and R20,000 for registering the comedian as a candidate.
They said the signatures were received in just two days after activations in Braamfontein and in Pretoria.
MacG is known for being one of South Africa’s most popular podcasters and not known for his political activism, so his announcement of a last minute campaign for a seat in Parliament ahead of the 2024 general and provincial elections, was quite the surprise.
MacG gave Phenduka the update about what they got to the point of a political campaign, thanks to his stand in JJ, who had the grand idea of getting the podcast into Parliament.
1,000 signatures secured in two days
“We literally hit the street trying to rally young South Africans… We got about 460 signatures in an hour..”
“While we waited we got some signatures and then we ended up staying there the whole time and then we got the 1,000 signatures on Thursday.”
JJ explained that they have done all that’s required for the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) and it was now a verification process that was left to confirm Khoza as a candidate.
Last Friday, March 8, was the last day for independent candidates to gather the required 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot sheet for the elections on May 29.
How to vote for Khoza
Once, and if Khoza’s submission is confirmed by the IEC, Khoza is expected to be on the third independent candidate ballot paper as he is not associated with any political party.
He will be on the third ballot paper as an independent candidate - a new consideration for national elections, while there will be other ballots for a national and provincial vote, where people can still vote for their political parties of choice.
JJ explained that Khoza will be standing as an independent candidate and MacG is not starting a political party.
“We are supporting Eugene as an independent candidate to put him in Parliament. He's going to go there and represent our interest so we have to give him a mandate.
“The chillers ticket are going to give him a mandate and say Eugene when you go to parliament right after we voted for you we want you to address the following issues, A,B,C…”
Have your say... Would you vote for the Mac G and chillers backed Eugene Khoza?