Gwede gets up close and personal on walk-about

ANC SECRETARY-general Gwede Mantashe received a rock star welcome in Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday as he went on a charm offensive, giving out his cellphone number and even pouting when posing for pictures.

Mantashe is on a two-day campaign for next month’s general election.

He started his visit with a door-to-door walk-about in Zwide and New Brighton, handing out flyers at the Kenako Mall.

He was flanked by ANC provincial chairman Phumulo Masualle, regional secretary Zandisile Qupe, alliance partners and volunteers.

Kholisile Makhaya, 86, of Zwide, was so shocked when Mantashe entered his home that he did not believe it was him.

“You look like Mantashe. Is this really the Mantashe I normally see on TV?” Makhaya asked. A beaming Mantashe assured the pensioner it was really him and went on to say his clan names.

An excited Makhaya said: “We never shake hands with people from parliament but I believe you will leave us with good luck. When we shake your hand, we feel like we have also shaken [President Jacob] Zuma’s hand.

“I have always voted for the ANC since 1994 when it was [former President Nelson] Mandela and I will vote for it again,” Makhaya said.

Mantashe told Xoliswa Joyi, 36, of Zwide, who complained that there were no job opportunities, that the ANC would not go door to door telling people about job opportunities.

But he did encourage her to visit her ward councillor’s office and register to benefit from projects in the area.

After promising to vote for the ANC, they posed for a picture, with Joyi saying she was glad she had just finished bathing.

Mantashe quipped: “I would not mind taking a picture with you while you bathe. In fact, I would have taken the picture with you while you bathe,” he said, eliciting laughter from his entourage.

At Kenako Mall, Mantashe and his entourage were initially stopped by a security guard who said they were not allowed to campaign at the mall. But Mantashe spoke to him in Afrikaans and seconds later made his way in. Inside, he went to almost every shop and Masualle and Qupe later struggled to pull him out of the mall.

Scores of excited shoppers and workers at the mall chased after him to get snapshots of him, with one woman running across the mall to hug and pose for a picture with him.

“You want to take pictures with Uncle Gweezee? Come, come,” he told Mr Price employees at the mall.

As people told how they would upload the pictures taken with Mantashe onto social networking site Facebook, he told them he had quit Facebook and had joined the masses on Twitter.

One woman told him she had always voted for the ANC and slipped in that she was hungry.

“So are you selling your vote? You should not sell your vote,” he said, instructing one of his aides to give the woman R10 as he walked away.

Mantashe also gave a shopkeeper, who said he was not registered to vote, his cellphone number.

“Call me so I can explain to you why it is important for you to register and vote,” he said.

In an interview later, Mantashe said the ANC was the only party with “commitments and not promises”, unlike opposition parties.

“If we’re talking about houses, we can point and say, ‘in area X and Y, we have started building houses and we’re continuing’. “If you want electricity, we’re also continuing. “Young kids from poor households, we give them social grants, take them to no fee-paying schools, give them a meal a day. When they finish matric, they go and get NSFAS.”

Addressing about 450 volunteers in Zwide, Mantashe said they should lead by example and always be the first on scenes where residents had been raped, abused or were in trouble.