ANC to hold its councillors accountable - Zuma

President Jacob Zuma on Saturday urged South Africans to vote for the party‚ saying it was focused on providing improved basic services by jacking up municipalities and holding ANC councillors accountable.

He was speaking in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape at the launch of the ANC’s election manifesto ahead of the August 3 local government elections.

While ANC chairwoman Baleka Mbete said more than 42‚000 people had passed through the gates of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium‚ on the stands the number appeared fewer.

Supporters were bussed to the stadium to listen to the launch of the election manifesto.

While there have been calls from within the ANC for Zuma to "do the right thing" and step down‚ the mass crowd showed no signs of internal squabbles‚ shouting and clapping for Zuma. While the party said it expected up to 110‚000 supporters at the stadium and in "overflow areas"‚ only 2/3 of the 46‚000-capacity stadium was filled.

Mbete said the buses from KwaZulu-Natal had arrived late and there were delays in transporting more members from the Bay townships.

With the local government elections taking place in less than four months‚ Zuma's speech was focused on improving basic service delivery‚ the core function of municipalities.

The theme of the manifesto speech was “Advancing People's Power: Local Government is in your hands”.

Zuma said ANC councillors would be held accountable by being made to sign performance and accountability agreements and that they would ensure councillors abided by the party's code of conduct.

He said the councillors had to be more visible and hold regular meetings.

Appealing to the electorate‚ Zuma said the ruling party had changed the way it chose its ward candidates by making it the communities' choice who should lead their wards.

"We have involved communities in the process of nominating candidates for the forthcoming 2016 local government elections‚" Zuma said. This has been a highly contentious issue across the country as there have been several reports of disagreements leading to violence at some meetings.

Delivering the message that ANC volunteers and officials will be talking to voters ahead of the elections‚ Zuma said they would increase water supply and more dams would be built.

He said they would also provide free WiFi access.

"We will expand broadband access in local government‚ including through the popular free WiFi.

"The ANC government will continue to alleviate unemployment through the Extended Public Works Programmes " he said.

He encouraged municipalities to cut down on outsourcing‚ saying they should use internal staff to deliver basic services where possible.

"Municipalities play a key role in the welfare of our people."

Zuma said the party was serious about rooting out corruption and that 234 government officials had been arrested for corruption since 2014.

He said they would pursue action against companies involved in bid rigging‚ price fixing and corruption in procurement.

Touching on the #FeesMustFall issue‚ Zuma said: "Student loans are now being converted into bursaries for qualifying learners on the final year of there studies".

- TMG Digital/The Herald