THE ANC wants to reclaim the City of Tshwane from the DA, after the November 1 local government elections.
This is the pledge made by the ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula, when he briefed the media on Thursday about his party’s state of readiness, ahead of the elections. In his address, he said his party has chosen to host its election manifesto in Tshwane, with the view to reclaim the City of Tshwane. The ANC lost Tshwane in 2016 and it was taken over by the DA, with the support of the EFF, and other opposition parties.
Mbalula said that they will host their manifesto on September 27, in Tshwane. He blamed the loss of the metro council to the factional battles in 2016. Due to factional battles, the ANC had to rope in Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza to be the mayoral candidate.
But, according to Mbalula, this time around they will be in Tshwane to get a mandate to govern the metro again.
“The weekend of the manifesto launch will be preceded by community engagements, led by President Ramaphosa, and the leadership of the ANC, reflecting on the past five years of local government.
“In compliance with Covid-19 protocols and regulations, the ANC manifesto launch will be held in Tshwane, with only 500 people in attendance. The manifesto launch will be followed by the roll-out of localised manifesto launches in the metros, and the rest of the local municipalities. Our ward councillor candidates will also be rolling out ward-based manifesto launches, responding to ward-based service delivery plans, and specifically aligned to the main manifesto,” Mbalula said.
He also said that Ramaphosa and other ANC leaders would, this weekend, encourage new voters to go to the voting stations and register to vote, including those who relocated to different areas, who he asked to provide the Electoral Commission (IEC) with new details of their residential areas.
Commenting on the latest protest about nomination disputes – Mbalula acknowledged that some of the people came with genuine complaints of manipulation of nomination lists, but said others were paid to come and protest outside Luthuli House, the ANC headquarters.
He said some of them travelled from Lephalale, in Limpopo, and their accommodation and transport, including beverages, were fully paid – allegedly by people who wanted to remain as councillors.
He assured the aggrieved members that the ANC’s electoral committee, under Kgalema Motlanthe, was dealing with their complaints ahead of the IEC’s candidate registration deadline, on September 21.