Local government elections to go ahead
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the local government elections should go ahead, despite growing calls for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to postpone it.
Ramaphosa said despite Covid-19 restrictions, South African lives must go on and the election was one activity that should also go on.
He was speaking in Mpumalanga township, near Hammarsdale, outside Durban, yesterday, during a mini-rally for the governing party, which is vying for a crucial ward and competing with the EFF. Addressing the crowd that came to the rally, Ramaphosa said the ANC was ready for the elections.
“As the ANC, we are saying we want the elections now, the elections should be held because we are ready, we are always ready to vote our people into offices so that they can work for us. Yes, the elections will be held during the pandemic of Covid-19, which has claimed so many lives in South Africa and worldwide … despite that, our lives should go ahead … Elections will be held later this year,” he said, speaking in Zulu.
The calls to postpone the elections have been mainly championed by the EFF and the IFP. The EFF wants the elections to be pushed to 2024, and held simultaneously with the provincial and national elections.
The IFP said they should only be postponed for a year. Both parties claim that due to Covid-19 restrictions, parties have not been able to properly prepare and to canvass voters.
Before Ramaphosa addressed the rally, KZN ANC chairperson and Premier Sihle Zikalala addressed the same matter.
“There are people who are saying the local government elections should be postponed. We are saying the elections should go ahead. As the ANC, we are ready,” Zikalala told the crowd.
Despite the show of strength during the rally and unity at the top, the divisions of the governing party in the eThekwini region could not be suppressed during the rally. Supporters of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede used the rally to show their support for her.
The region has been divided as there is a faction loyal to Gumede and another led by Thabani Nyawose. In the run-up to Nasrec in 2017, the Gumede faction was pro Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma (NDZ), while the Nyawose faction was firmly behind Cyril Ramaphosa (CR17).
While about 2 000 members of the party were eagerly awaiting Ramaphosa's arrival, singing struggle songs and waving ANC flags, no factional songs were heard in the crowd.
Things changed when Ramaphosa landed, accompanied by Gumede, Zikalala and KZN national executive committee (NEC) deployee Nocawe Mafu.
Unexpectedly, as a public address system mounted on an ANC branded vehicle played Struggle songs, a sizeable part of the ANC crowd started to repeatedly chant slogans in favour of Gumede, who was mayor of eThekwini until dislodged in August 2019, when she was accused of corruption.