‘Don’t ditch the poor after we’ve won, comrades’
ANC veterans warn candidates against flight to wealthier areas as party intensifies its campaign
ANC stalwarts Kgalema Motlanthe and Ahmed Kathrada yesterday warned the party’s local government candidates not to loot from the public purse or move out of townships after being elected councillors.
Motlanthe and Kathrada were called in by the Gauteng ANC to lecture candidates about ethics and leadership during the party’s door-to-door election campaign in Orange Farm yesterday.
They joined ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile and national executive committee members Jeff Radebe and Malusi Gigaba.
Kathrada said the ANC candidates should be driven by the spirit of volunteerism and emulate the likes of Moses Kotane and Oliver Tambo.
“We must not confuse [what] individuals do. The membership of the ANC is committed to the spirit of volunteerism . . . and that should be carried more and more to the younger people.
“I am confident, from what I have seen over the years, that the spirit of volunteerism is still there. I have not yet come across volunteers that have come and said: ‘I want money.’
“I am confident that they are going to continue doing the work without asking for money,” said Kathrada.
Earlier, when Mashatile introduced Kathrada and Motlanthe, he joked: “Hopefully, we will not have to recall anyone of you, stay safe and stick to what is expected of you.”
Motlanthe told the ANC deployees that, at all times, they should show respect to the communities that elect them into office.
The former president, who also served as deputy president, said that if councillors moved into wealthier or more developed areas after the elections, they risked being out of touch with communities they were elected to serve.
“That is why the requirement is that you must come from that constituency, you must reside in that constituency, so that you are familiar with [its] conditions and problems.
“Because if you don’t reside there, and you reside elsewhere, when you try to speak to them, they will say to you: ‘No, we hear you. At your level, that’s what it’s about, but you have no idea of the conditions on the ground.’
“Now, if you’re a public representative, you can’t allow that to arise,” said Motlanthe.
During the campaign, residents complained about joblessness, a lack of houses and claimed that some of the ANC’s councillors were cheeky.
Campaigning in the Western Cape, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party wanted to “liberate” the province by winning an outright majority.
Mantashe went door to door in the Kosovo informal settlement in Philippi.
He snacked on braaied meat from a local vendor and was greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd.
Mantashe said most people had complained about housing, sanitation and water, which, he said, the DA had neglected.
But he expected the ANC to win the area, as well as others in the Western Cape.
“We, as the ANC, have never won the Western Cape. In 1994, it was won by the National Party and we only ever governed in coalition. That is why we want to win it now, and win it outright,” he said.
“All the other provinces have tasted liberation.”
Mantashe said winning depended on the “work we are doing now” and getting undecided voters to make their mark on August 3.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC’s deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, urged voters to entrench President Jacob Zuma’s rule by voting for the ANC.
Speaking at a taxi rank in Estcourt where he conducted a walk, Ramaphosa told ANC supporters that Zuma was working hard for the ruling party.
“Let’s vote on August 3 to strengthen Msholozi’s hand because he doesn’t sleep and works very hard for the ANC.”
He also urged voters to ensure that the ANC garnered 80% of the vote in all the municipalities so that it did not have to form coalitions with “Mickey Mouse” parties.
“We’re just a few days from the elections. For us to win the elections we need to go door to door because that’s the strength of our campaign.” — Additional reporting by Bongani Mthethwa
You must reside in a constituency so that you are familiar with [its] conditions