Political parties bring out the big guns
Rivals out in force in Bay as campaigning for election heats up
‘The fundamentals as far as voters are concerned still haven’t changed. You still have broad national socioeconomic issues, but also none of the political parties have governed in a way that has led to any radical change’ Ongama Mtimka
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is up for grabs.
This is according to political analysts, who say despite political parties aiming for an outright majority in the metro after the local government elections on November 1, the playing field is pretty even.
The DA and EFF brought out their big guns at the weekend for the voter registration drive that saw the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC) online registration system being offline for most of the weekend.
The ANC’s Paul Mashatile pulled out of his appearance in the Bay at the last minute due to the party’s national executive committee meeting at the weekend.
Political analyst Ongama Mtimka said voters in the metro had shown they were not willing to give any of the major political parties a majority share.
Political analyst Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast also believes there will be no outright winner.
Mtimka said: “In 2016, the DA won with an overall 46% [of the vote], with the ANC getting about 40%, and the 2019 [general] election was a complete reversal of that trend, with the ANC getting about 46% and the DA 39%.
“To me, that is a clear indication voters are undecided about who should lead in this municipality.”
On parties wanting an outright win and what they could do over the next few weeks to achieve this, Mtimka said he doubted whether anything could change public perception.
“The fundamentals as far as voters are concerned still haven’t changed.
“You still have broad national socioeconomic issues, but also none of the political parties have governed in a way that has led to any radical change.
“In terms of the stability and performance of the municipality, the DA has only got as close as to where things were in the late 2000s, just before the Nceba Faku and Zanoxolo Wayile infighting happened.
“The municipality that time was performing well, had good finances and also received the level two accreditation we’re celebrating now,” he said.
While checking voting stations, EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, who was accompanied by regional chair Khanya Ngqisha, told The Herald that the party would win an outright majority.
“In a worse-case scenario, which is unlikely, we’ll be number two, but we’re gunning for the number one position.
“We can save this city from the disorganisation that’s been happening since 2016 with different mayors and collapsed coalitions,” Shivambu said.
“We’re not thinking about coalitions but victory.
“That’s [coalitions] not even in our thought process right now.”
While driving from KwaNobuhle to Motherwell, Shivambu’s vehicle was seen swerving to avoid the potholes on the R75.
Speaking on the condition of roads and other infrastructure challenges, he said they were an indication of an “incompetent and directionless government”.
“That’s why in our manifesto that we’ll launch on September 26 we’ll emphasise the centrality of infrastructure maintenance, roads, water projects and community halls.
“You can’t do that if you rely
on tenders, that is why we will discontinue tenders and have people directly involved to fix these,” Shivambu said.
DA national spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube and northern areas constituency leader Yusuf Cassim engaged with supporters and unveiled the party’s new election “battle bus” in Ward 34.
Gwarube said should the DA win the majority vote it would bring back dignity to the people of the embattled northern areas by ensuring proper budgets were in place to serve the community.
“If we govern here in the majority, we will be able to put in place budgets in these wards to fix streets, lights and bring back dignity.
“We get things done,” she said.
Gwarube said the DA was able to demonstrate clean and competent governance and would be able to turn things around in the metro.
“To change people’s lives we need to get the majority,” she said.
Downplaying any suggestion of entering into a coalition government, Gwarube said the DA was not threatened by any other political parties.
She confirmed that mayor Nqaba Bhanga was still the party’s mayoral candidate despite concerns regarding his recent involvement in a car crash which claimed the lives of two people.
“[Bhanga] is still our candidate but our project is bigger than one person,” she said.
Bhanga has not been seen out since his Mercedes-Benz collided with an Audi on August 28.
Sandile Ronald Sicolo was travelling with Nonzwakazi Maho in the Audi when the accident happened just before 11.30pm, at the intersection of St Leonard’s Drive and Uitenhage Road.
Cousins Sicolo, 39, and Maho, 44, died at the scene.
Bhanga was admitted to Netcare Greenacres Hospital, where he underwent surgery the next day for internal bleeding.
Gwarube said Bhanga was still recovering at home from the injuries he sustained in the accident and was committed to taking the metro into his confidence with regard to the events surrounding the crash.
ANC MPL Helen Sauls-August, who stood in for Mashatile, visited several wards in the metro on Saturday and Sunday.
She said the ANC’s chances of winning an outright majority were far better than they were in 2016 due to the unity the party had shown.
“The ANC is in a far better position than in 2016 and if we can retain the unity there was, then I think we’ll win because that’s our only salvation right now.
“A coalition at the moment and the way it’s been set up, does not work in Nelson Mandela Bay and does not service the people of the metro,” SaulsAugust said.
Breakfast, however, said the Bay was up for grabs.
“Historically, the Bay has always been an electoral stronghold for the ANC but because of lack of service delivery a lot of people have chosen to stay away from the polls and that gives the DA an upper hand to do well.
“What I expect is the majority of white people will vote for the DA but for the party to win, they need the buy-in of other races, such as the coloured voters.
“Historically, the northern areas have always been unhappy about the racial posture of the ANC so this makes it fluid terrain as they also factor in deciding who ascends to power in the metro.”
Other parties contesting this key area include GOOD, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Northern Alliance (NA), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Compatriots of SA (CSA), Defenders of the People (DOP) and Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM).
In a statement on Saturday, the IEC acknowledged that it had experienced issues with its voter management devices which capture an address and verify it against ward boundaries with many being offline.
However, it said this had not affected the process of registering voters.