'Helen Zille doesn't know your challenges,' Mashatile tells Gugulethu, Khayelitsha residents

ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile has doubled down on his statement that the DA government in Cape Town is neglecting people living in townships and informal settlements like Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.

Mashatile on Tuesday responded to DA federal council leader Helen Zille who said on Twitter Mashatile’s remarks about the DA’s service delivery in townships were “bulls*it”.

Mashatile walked the filthy streets of Gugulethu, pointing at sewage running in the streets and heaps of rubbish piling up on some corners to prove that his remarks were accurate.

“We don’t want you to continue living on streets like this,” said Mashatile, “[but] when we say to the DA we can see you are not taking care of people from Khayelitsha and Gugulethu they say we are talking bulls*it”.

Zille and former DA leader Tony Leon had lashed out at Mashatile’s comments on Twitter saying they were inaccurate.

“Bulls*it,” said Zille responding to an article on Mashatile. “The DA government does more for the people in Khayelitsha than in Camps Bay.”

Mashatile in response took a direct swipe at Zille saying he does not believe she has ever visited areas like Gugulethu or Khayelitsha.

“I don’t remember seeing Helen Zille here, unless you guys have. I don’t even think she knows this place. She doesn’t know the challenges you are facing because she doesn’t go to the people. The ANC comes to the people and witnesses people’s problems and works with them to resolve those problems,” said Mashatile.

Mashatile said the ANC was not just paying lip service when it criticised the DA government in Cape Town as it knows what people go through.

“You can see behind me here, piles of rubbish. The municipality of the DA is not cleaning this place, people are living in dirt here,” said Mashatile.

“So when we comment and say they don’t care about our people, it’s true. Here are the facts, anybody can see.”

He said the ANC at national level would intervene in these areas, which he said the DA was ignoring.

“And we are not going to rely on them, national government is going to come here and work with our people, support them,” he said.

“We are here not just because we want people to come to the rally, we are here because we want to know their problems, we want to see their problems, we want to work with them to resolve these problems.

“We are going to do it whether the DA likes it or not. We are here, these are our people. They don’t do it as provincial government and municipality, we [national] will do it.”

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