The Inkatha Freedom Party does not play the political games of power and patronage that are ”known to be part and parcel of the politics of the Western Cape”, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi told a campaign meeting in the Cape Town suburb of Hanover Park on Tuesday evening.
Making a foray into the metropole that returned 3 935 votes for his party during the last local government elections, he promised — in a speech prepared for delivery — that IFP candidates, if elected on March 1, would focus on service delivery in the city.
”Can any of you honestly say that your councillors, to date, have made a big difference in your lives in past years? Do they knock on your doors? Do they help you put out the fires in your backyards? Do they use the access they have to power efficiently and effectively?” he asked.
Buthelezi said among the issues his party’s candidates had highlighted in Hanover Park was the terrible plight of so-called backyard dwellers, ”and the fact that, year after year, nothing has been done to help you”.
”They [the candidates] highlighted what appears to be the obvious corruption involving housing lists. Many of you have proof that you have been on waiting lists for decades, and yet you are still suffering. This has got to stop!”
Further, candidates had noted crime, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, HIV/Aids, a lack of medical facilities, domestic violence, non-payment of child maintenance, the plight of the aged, youth needs, and a lack of adequate sporting facilities as problem areas.
”I hear that you know that at present only the politically-connected are being assisted in this metro. This is wrong — and you know it.
”The IFP does not play these political games of power and patronage, which are known to be part and parcel of the politics of the Western Cape,” Buthelezi said. – Sapa