Mazibuko takes on the ANC

LEADER OF ’76 STUDENT UPRISING TO STAND AS INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE IN LOCAL POLL TO ADDRESS ‘BREAD AND BUTTER ISSUES’

ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed that the party will win all the municipalities across South Africa in the upcoming local government elections.

Speaking to thousands of supporters at the party’s Siyanqoba rally at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane yesterday, Ramaphosa said ANC’s track record in providing services would ensure its overwhelming victory.

The rally was supposed to have been addressed by President Jacob Zuma but Ramaphosa stood in to give the main address. Zuma is attending the 27th African Union summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

“On the 3rd August they will know who we are. It is only a few days until the ANC takes over all the municipalities in SA,” Ramaphosa said.

ANC provincial chairman Stan Mathabatha echoed Ramaphosa’s sentiments, saying the party will win the five district municipalities in Limpopo.

“It is no one else but the ANC government that has restored the dignity of the historically oppressed people of this country,” Mathabatha said.

“They are now equal citizens in the land of their birth. Others, whether they are in red or blue, they are just different sides of a same coin. It will be a high risk for anyone to think of entrusting them with governance. They are rebels without a cause.”

The event was marked with the singing of struggle songs and entertainment by artists such as Dr Malinga, Winnie Mashaba and Solly Moholo.

Outside the stadium people were captivated by a wire sculpture of former president Nelson Mandela sitting on a large chair.

Artist Ronald Tlou Nkoana, 30, from Moletjie said he spent two years making the sculpture.

“I never got a chance to meet him and say ‘thank you Tata’. So I created this sculpture so that I can touch him,” Nkoana said.

He used old metal pipes, clay and glue to make the image of Madiba wearing grey formal pants and a floral shirt.