Lungani Zungu
With a week before the local government elections, political parties are steaming up their campaigns to woo voters.
In his capacity as ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa crisscrossed the Gauteng province on Monday pleading with residents in Soweto to vote for the ANC.
“We urge you to vote for the ANC, and we promise you better services if you vote for us,” he said.
Ramaphosa conceded that his party, the ANC, had failed in some places to change the plight of poor South Africans.
“But we are going through a renewal phase, and we are doing things differently now.”
Following the DA’s “Get Things Done Rally” on Saturday in Johannesburg, party leader John Steenhuisen is confident of securing victory next week.
Steenhuisen took his party’s campaign to the Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape on Monday.
Steenhuisen told his party supporters that the DA would take nothing less than a majority win in the coastal city.
“Please vote for the DA next week because the DA gets things done, unlike the ANC, which has failed you countless times.”
The scramble for the Eastern Cape votes saw EFF leader Julius Malema also visiting the province on Monday.
“We promise you better lives if you vote for the EFF next week. The ANC failed dismally to change your lives. Vote for us, and your life will never be the same again,” Malema told a crowd in Mdantsane.
He added that the party will hold a massive rally in Katlehong, Gauteng province, on Friday.
Despite his old age, the IFP’s ‘President Emeritus’, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who is 93, is actively campaigning for his party.
He went to Durban – where he was warmly received over the weekend.
The IFP is regaining its lost ground in KZN – as the support of its archrivals, the late Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi’s NFP is dwindling.
Smaller parties like former DA Joburg Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA and Bantu Holomisa’s UDM, are poised to become kingmakers in municipalities where they would not be any outright majority winner.
Defence Minister Thandi Modise said the army would be on standby to deal with violence if it erupts next week.
