Blacks must unite in ousting DA in WC, says Mahumapelo

ANC National Executive Member (NEC) member Supra Mahumapelo has called on black people in the Western Cape to unite and dethrone the DA in the province in next year’s elections.

Mahumapelo was addressing members in attendance during the party’s 2019 manifesto review in Worcester on Sunday.

The manifesto review aims to demonstrate the party’s commitment to addressing its challenges, service delivery issues, job creation, corruption and crime. It is also a report back on the progress it has made in implementing the party's policy from the last general elections.

The party held the first of the Western Cape leg of its 2019 manifesto review in Khayelitsha earlier this month.

Mahumapelo said: “The ANC was in power in this province, but something happened among black people and it opened a window for the DA to come and take power. That thing is the disunity among black people of this province. It is time we put our differences aside and unite. The only weapon the DA has against us is the disunity that we have. Africans, Coloured and Indians must come together. The only way the DA has survived is by dividing black people.

So we need to work on mastering the formula of unity, win the elections in 2024 and take back the province.”

ANC provincial spokesperson Khalid Sayed thanked supporters for attending in numbers.

“The focus of the review manifesto is to indicate to the voting public the achievement the ANC has made but also where we still need more. We also want to illustrate what the DA-rule has meant for the poor and the marginalised in our province, and that the DA does not have the best interest of our people.

“The ANC has delivered in its promises, even though to some extent we still need to improve. We will also be presenting what the ANC was able to do when it governed the Western Cape but very importantly we want to hear from our people as well, and what it is that they want an ANC-led government in the province to do,” he said.

SACP provincial secretary, Benson Ngqentsu said: “Our people still love the ANC, however, it appears that on the economic front, ANC is not in charge but the institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund... the imposition of austerity measures by the National Treasury through Minister Enoch Godongwana is hard evidence.

Neo-liberal austerity policies are the source of the present crisis of rising cost of living, joblessness, crime and load shedding. Therefore, if the ANC still want to rule this country it must abandon this neo-liberal austerity economic trajectory.”

Director at the School of Public Leadership Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu said rebuilding trust among the people will require an ANC that is committed to addressing poverty, unemployment, load shedding and corruption to name a few issues.

“The fact that Mahumapelo who was accused of corruption in the Zondo commission is to address the event says a lot about the organisation's willingness to deal with the mentioned challenges. The people of the Western Cape require an ANC that will demonstrate that it will do better than the DA, it is not possible to do this via a rally only.”

Cape Times