The next few days ahead of the March 1 local government elections are very crucial, African Christian Democratic Party leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe said on Saturday.
”In these few days you need to go door to door. The work is not done … There are those who have not decided who they will vote for,” Meshoe told party councillors at the election campaign in Dobsonville.
”People are complaining of service delivery. We must make sure that the ACDP delivers. You must be committed to excellence.”
He said there is still time to persuade voters to vote for the ACDP. He said local government needs to be changed now.
”The ANC has had 12 years to remove the bucket system. Why are our people allowing themselves to be humiliated like that?” Meshoe said. ”Our streets are so filthy. How can the current government be satisfied with this stink?”
The ACDP, he said, is prepared to provide proper sanitation for communities.
On Friday’s Constitutional Court ruling that paved the way for the party to participate in the election in Cape Town, he said the ACDP is confident that the party will retain its position as the third-largest in the area.
”We will retain our position and might even kick someone out. We are not even worried about the Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille. I don’t even think about her.”
He said some political parties had taken advantage of the fact that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) earlier decided that the ACDP could not contest the poll there.
This was after the party forgot to include Cape Town on the list of areas it was contesting.
Meshoe said his party learnt a lesson that it always has to make sure everything is properly done when registering for an election.
”There were those who were saying that the ACDP could not be trusted because of this mistake. However, we are saying that the IEC cannot be trusted either.
”They were the ones who are required by law to check our documents, but they did not. They should be more honest and admit their mistake.”
The mistake the IEC made, he said, was much smaller than the mistakes that the ”ruling party made over the past 12 years failing the people”.
”The community is not receiving value for their money. Hence, we are here to make sure that our councillors, who can do the job, change this now.” — Sapa