ANC threat to upset Zille’s Sopa

TODAY Western Cape Premier Helen Zille is expected to deliver her last State of the Province Address (Sopa), and it won’t be business as usual after the ANC said it would occupy Wale Street while she delivers her address inside.

“This occupation will allow the people of the Western Cape to tell in their own words what the real situation in the province is for them.

“Zille can’t speak for our communities. They must tell their own story,” said ANC elections head Ebrahim Rasool.

He said they didn’t expect anything new from her Sopa.

“Given her record, her speech will be filled with the usual hype about successes that have bypassed our communities in the past 10 years,” he said.

Zille became premier after the 2009 general elections. She has served as mayor of Cape Town.

She faced a range of controversies. In 2008, the DA and Zille, who was mayor then, faced criticism for their response to the 2008 xenophobic attacks in Cape Town.

Former finance minister Trevor Manuel accused Zille of “fanning the flames” by speaking out against foreign drug dealers while on a visit to Mitchells Plain.

In March 2017, after a trip to Singapore and Japan which cost R600 000 for five people, Zille commented on Twitter that the legacy of colonialism was not all bad, because it left a legacy of infrastructure and institutions, which South Africa could build on.

Although the ANC is expecting little from Zille’s speech, Reclaim the City hopes for good news with regard to housing.

However, Deena Bosch, Reclaim’s Woodstock chapter leader, said: “… she has done very little to address apartheid spatial planning.”

DA Western Cape provincial leader Bonginkosi Madikizela said: “We do not expect the ANC to be nearly as capable a provincial opposition.

“We will not allow it to disrupt this province’s government and its commitment to the people.”