In a hard-hitting address to thousands of African National Congress supporters in Rustenburg, President Thabo Mbeki on Monday told them not to vote for ”silly parties” like the New National Party, the Democratic Alliance or the African Christian Democratic Party.
He said if ever his sister was to arrive home and tell him that she was in love with ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe, he would have to beat her: ”No other parties can solve the problems of this country,” he said, urging supporters to vote for the ANC on April 14.
Mbeki, visiting squatter camps, miners, taxi operators and businessmen on his election tour of Rustenburg, was mobbed by supporters wherever he went.
Bodyguards, already tense after a week in which the president had received death threats, allegedly from a man with a ”deep Afrikaans voice”, were taking no chances.
ANC spokesperson Barba Gaoganediwe confirmed security had been increased as a result of the recent threats.
After having trudged through mud and sludge while visiting Freedom Park Squatter Camp outside Rustenburg, Mbeki described it as ”not a good place for people to live”. He said it was a place for chickens and his supporters were not chickens.
”How can the people who are responsible for the bulk of the country’s wealth live in these conditions?” he asked thousands of mineworkers who had gathered to hear him speak.
He told them his government would be moving them out of the squatter camps and into houses. He also promised to turn mining hostels into family apartments.
”Men working need the support of their families and so in the future we want them to be accompanied by their wives and children,” he said to much applause.
Mbeki, together with the president of the National Union of Mineworkers, Zenzeni Zuyokwana, told the miners that they were to vote on election day and not to be intimidated from not voting.
He told his supporters that provincial premier Popo Molefe did not travel in a smart black car to look impressive.
”He must get out and walk around areas like Freedom Park. Molefe as well as Rustenburg’s mayor, Thabo Mabe, are here to serve you and improve your lives but they can only do that if they are in power,” he said.
Earlier, Mabe had explained that the area had grown tremendously since Mbeki’s last visit in 1999.
”We desperately need more infrastructure,” he told Mbeki during his tour through Freedom Park. ”We need a new school and improved roads because the old ones can’t cope with the increasing population,” he said.
The predominantly platinum mining-driven region had seen an influx of people looking for work in recent years. Mabe explained the mines provide work for approximately 12 000 people but many more stayed in the area hoping for future employment.
This, said Mabe, had led to quickly expanding squatter camps.
”As you can imagine, this influx leads to a serious crime problem,” said Mabe.
He explained that improved partnerships between the mines and local council needed to be undertaken in order to alleviate the problems.
”The mines do provide ”living out” subsidies for those employees not wishing to live in hostels but we need the mines to take more responsibilities for what they (miners) do with the allowance so that it does not contribute to an ever expanding squatter camp,” Mabe said.
Mbeki later promised that the housing issue would be addressed. – Sapa