Traditional leaders would be given powers at local government level under African Christian Democratic Party rule, party leader Kenneth Meshoe said on Sunday.
He was speaking in a church at Barcelona informal settlement in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, on the East Rand.
”Where there are no chiefs, councillors will do the job,” he said. ”When the ACDP takes over, chiefs will not be controlled by young comrade boys because the word of God preaches respect.”
Meshoe said chiefs are ordained by God to lead people in villages and need to be respected.
He added that houses can be built and sanitation be installed far quicker than the government has put them in. He stressed that money is available for housing but that it has been misused.
An international Christian organisation, Habitat for Humanity, can erect a house in five to seven days and an ACDP government will have it do the job.
”Why have people been made to wait more than 12 years?” he asked.
Meshoe further criticised the size and quality of Reconstruction and Development Programme houses, calling them ”dehumanising”.
”The president has said that councillors are not delivering because of lack of capacity. He acknowledges that they have not been doing their jobs.
”They are political appointments who know how to use an AK-47 but do not know how to use a computer.”
Introducing his family at the meeting to emphasise his party’s stance on family values, Meshoe said his wife is always at his side and his children often accompany him to political functions.
”Most leaders have a family problem. If they cannot lead their families, how can they lead the nation?”
Meshoe said after the meeting that his party is optimistic about winning new ground in the Northern Cape.
”It’s a very religious population and with the demise of the New National Party there has been disappointment among voters that the African National Congress is a party only for blacks.” — Sapa