'DA will fail us informal settlement residents'

Residents of the Sicelo Shiceka informal settlement in the Midvaal municipality say they will appeal to the provincial government to deliver basic services to the area, as they believe the DA will fail them as it has since the party took over from the ANC in 2006.

Sicelo resident Simon Zungu, who says he was first in the voting queue on Wednesday morning, was shattered on hearing that the ANC had, for the second time in a row, lost the municipality to the DA.

Zungu said he felt "hopeless" and believed residents would continue to live under the same desperate conditions, as nothing had changed over the past five years since the DA took over.

"The DA politicians never came here to talk to us about our living conditions until recently. They know very well what our issues are around here, but, instead of fixing things so that we can live like decent human beings, they put up a makeshift park next to a dumping site."

Residents of the sprawling informal settlement came out in numbers to vote, hoping for an ANC takeover.

But the DA maintained its majority in Midvaal, also winning a ward the ANC believed it would win.

In the Sicelo settlement, young DA supporters clad in the party's traditional blue T-shirts walked about canvassing for votes, while in Meyerton town, party leaders and other supporters campaigned vigorously, leaving nothing to chance.

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the ruling party had accepted it could have done better in its campaign in Midvaal and had vowed to stage a comeback campaign to run the municipality.

"We need to focus more on the white areas of Midvaal because I am sure there are people there who will find resonance with the ANC message. We actually should not have lost Midvaal, but there are lessons to be learnt from this campaign," he said.

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema said the ruling party would work with Sicelo residents to bring about development in the area.

"The DA won Midvaal, and we accept that ... We are going to go there and deliver houses and electricity to our people with the co-operation of the municipality," he said.