If they can't spend their own money properly, how can they spend yours? Steenhuisen tears into ANC

15 September 2021 - 18:20
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Tshwane mayor Randall Williams is standing for the position again in the upcoming elections. The DA is aiming for more than 50% of the vote so it can rule the capital outright.
Tshwane mayor Randall Williams is standing for the position again in the upcoming elections. The DA is aiming for more than 50% of the vote so it can rule the capital outright.
Image: Thapelo Morebudi

The only reason the ANC wanted elections postponed was because it was broke.

This is according to DA leader John Steenhuisen, who was addressing the launch of the mayoral campaign for Tshwane mayor Randall Williams.

Steenhuisen used his address to tear into the ANC and its incompetence, saying the ruling party could not be trusted because it could not even pay its own staff.

His comments come as the ruling ANC goes through a difficult financial period. Since 2019, the party has had challenges paying its staff, leading to protests against the ANC by party employees.

It has since emerged that the party may also be in trouble with the taxman after it failed to pay over deductions it took from staff.

Controversial former Umkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus has laid a criminal charge against the party's top six leadership, including president Cyril Ramaphosa, over the matter.

“They have run out of money. They are begging people now. Send e-wallet. Give as an e-wallet. Send us 'half tiger' (slang for R5). Please call me. That's desperation because they don't know how to manage their own money.

“And if you don't know how to manage your own money as a political party, how do you manage public money?” said Steenhuisen to applause from DA supporters who had gathered for the launch.

Steenhuisen questioned how the ANC government would be able to tell officials that suppliers should be paid within 30 days, but it was unable to pay its own workers on time.

“How can a municipality trust a party when it can't even pay its own staff salaries? Those people at Luthuli House and other parts [of the country] are going hungry because of the fat cats that are in charge there.

“We don't want those people's hands anywhere near the city hall here in Tshwane and we don't want them in the Union Buildings in 2024 either,” said Steenhuisen.

He said the party wanted to get a 50% plus one majority in Tshwane to take control of the government, in a similar fashion to how they did in Cape Town.

Steenhuisen said the top five best-run municipalities in the country are run by the DA.

He slammed the ANC and other parties for trying to divide South Africans across racial lines. Steenhuisen said the ANC would continue dominating if the country was divided across racial lines.

TimesLIVE


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