With exactly two weeks to go before the 2021 local government elections, political parties took to the battlefield over the weekend to win over voters.
On Sunday, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa received a warm welcome while campaigning in Maluti a Phofung in the Free State. Ramaphosa said the governing party had embarked upon a path of renewal, rebuilding and revitalisation.
“This includes the turnaround of local government. We have resolved to face our problems, together, honestly, openly, and boldly.”
SACP general secretary and ANC NEC member Blade Nzimande campaigned in Durban to address a workshop of Cosatu shop stewards.
Meanwhile, EFF leader Julius Malema was out in Thabong in the Free State and heard the plight of the community, who said they were battling to find employment.
Also in the Free State, the founder and president emeritus of the IFP, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, embarked on a campaign trail at the Clocolan Sports Field.
During a campaign in Pretoria on Saturday, ANC deputy president David Mabuza urged the people of Soshanguve to vote for the governing party to ensure that it won back the capital city.
Mabuza engaged with residents who complained about a lack of service delivery, including water and electricity, to which he reminded them that Pretoria was under the control of the DA-led government, and not the ANC.
DA leader John Steenhuisen took the opposition party’s campaign trail to Doornkop, Mpumalanga, at the weekend. He promised that the DA would deliver clean water, reliable electricity, dignified sanitation and the kind of good, clean governance that attracted business and create jobs.
On the same day, Malema urged hundreds of Senekal residents in the Free State to vote for the red berets to better their lives.
Good Party leader Patricia de Lille was in Beaufort West and Leeu Gamka, and promised residents that the party had a plan to fix communities.
Political Bureau