Rise Mzansi coopted several political bigwigs to oversee its independent candidate selection nominations for the upcoming general election.

On Monday, the party announced the names of experienced political players who will serve on its Independent Candidate Selection Nominations Committee (NomCom). They will have the final say as to who represents the party in the national and provincial legislatures as MPs and MPLs respectively.

In a statement, party leader Songezo Zibi said the NomCom will deliberate on the more than 400 nominations and applications received over the last few months.

Rise Msanzi's NomCom includes:

• Brigalia Bam: former chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC);
• Dr Sithembile Mbete: political scientist;
• Boitumelo Lekoko: managing director of Lekoko Advisory, a certified fraud examiner, and elections governance expert;
• Busi Mkhumbuzi Pooe: social entrepreneur and founding CEO of ThinkShift;
• Neeshan Balton: civil society activist;
• Professor Richard Calland: emeritus associate professor in public law, UCT, and visiting adjunct professor, Wits School of Governance; and
• Motlatjo Seima: actuarial analyst and financial services sector professional.

"We have been impressed and motivated by the calibre of South Africans who have come forward to start the work of building a safe, prosperous, equal and united South Africa," Zibi said.

According to Zibi, the NomCom is tasked with overseeing the receipt of nominations and applications, considering nominations and applications by applying the "baseline eligibility criteria", assessing candidates against a selection assessment matrix, conducting candidate interviews and overseeing the party's election lists.

Zibi said the NomCom will have until the end of February to make recommendations to Rise Mzansi's national leadership. This will be followed by a notification of the preliminary list, and interviews of potential candidates will end with a final list to be announced. This will then be submitted to the IEC.

"Not only is Rise Mzansi looking for the best community leaders and representatives of the people, but we want them to be selected by the best. As per the People's Declaration, Rise Mzansi will elect the most capable and ethical leaders to represent South Africans in all our institutions of democracy," Zibi said.