ANC deputy president David Mabuza yesterday said he was confident his party would win back the City of Tshwane from the DA.
The ANC lost control of the capital city in the 2016 local government elections, but Mabuza said the governing party would wrestle it back in next month’s polls.
He said supporters were enthusiastic about the ANC’s election campaign, and the city’s residents had assured him the ANC would get Tshwane back.
Meanwhile, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday promised residents of the Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality in the Free State that the ANC will fix the troubled municipality.
Speaking in Harrismith, he said: ”We are here to make a plan on how to fix the problems you are facing.”
Ramaphosa said residents were unhappy with corrupt councillors and he was in the area to attend to their complaints.
He said one resident had told him that the municipality’s officials stole money and that she did not want this to continue.
”We have a problem with water, we don’t get it on time. She was complaining about electricity and roads,” the president said.
He said residents wanted a municipality that worked for them and where officials did not steal public funds.
“We are fixing the ANC; the thieves that you are complaining about are being removed one by one,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the ANC would remove all thieves in municipalities.
In an interview after campaigning, Ramaphosa said the ANC was committed to creating jobs in the municipality and fixing its electricity problems.
The municipality owes power utility Eskom almost R6 billion in unpaid electricity debt.
”The troubles with electricity, water and housing, we know them. The electricity we know about and I have asked [ANC deputy president David] Mabuza to work with Eskom and the municipality to look into the matter properly,” the ANC leader explained.
ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile told party volunteers in the North West they must encourage voters to adopt the same strategy that helped win the war against apartheid.
”Don’t get tired, we will rest after November 1, for a short while though, because when we win we can’t rest forever,” he said.
Mashatile said all three spheres of government would work together.
”There is the problem of old infrastructure and it is the number one priority.”
Mashatile said the ANC would fix the water challenges in many parts of the country and that there would be an uninterrupted supply of clean, drinkable water.
He said local people would be empowered after the municipal polls, but that the ANC’s promises depended on winning the elections.
”Councillors must leave the tendering process and focus on the programme. The resources must go and help the people and not come to our pockets. When we are councillors we are not in it to enrich ourselves, we are there to make sure that the resources reach our people,” Mashatile said.
Political Bureau