ANC leaders canvass votes in Tshwane township

Water tankers drive up and down the dusty streets of Pienaarspoort, delivering much-needed drinking water to this poor community near Mamelodi, Pretoria.

The streets are squeaky clean, thanks to the hard work of the Expanded Public Works Programme workers.

But residents say this rosy picture of a government that delivers was staged to create a good impression ahead of the arrival of ANC bigwigs on Friday morning.

“These trucks are never here. We just see them today. The toilets are never drained, refuse collection hardly happens,” said unemployed resident Relebogile Mohapi.

We made mistakes because we wanted to fast-track delivery and we stumbled along the way

Mohapi and a handful of other residents played host to Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, Gauteng premier David Makhura and Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, who came to ask for their votes.

The three bigwigs went from house to house, pleading with residents to give the ANC another chance in a metro where the party appears to be on the brink of losing power.

At the end of their visit, the ANC leaders addressed a community meeting. 

story_article_left1

“We’ve made mistakes because we’re working,” said Mokonyane.

“Nobody makes mistakes while folding their arms. We made mistakes because we wanted to fast-track delivery and we stumbled along the way.”

The ANC entourage left without taking questions from residents.

“We wanted to ask questions. As the youth we are getting tired of the ANC,” said Thabo Molewa, 27, who is out of work.

The ANC goes into the  local government elections in August at  risk of losing control of the City of Tshwane following a poor showing  in 2014, when it got only 49% of the votes.

Mokonyane told reporters that the party was  confident of securing at least 50% of the vote.

But a confident Solly Msimanga, the DA’s  mayoral candidate,  told the Sunday Times that his party was ready to govern the metro.

Msimanga said the DA planned to rejuvenate industrial nodes surrounding the city, such as Babelegi in Hammanskraal and Ekandustria in Bronkhorstspruit, which he said the ANC was failing to exploit as job-creation centres.

“In the city centre you have a lot of old municipal buildings, what are we doing to convert those into small hubs that young business people can use?” he asked.

“There are a lot of opportunities that the city is not tapping into.”

Msimanga said internal DA research showed 46% support for the party in Tshwane,  and this was expected to increase as the election date approached.