ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe advised worshippers outside the Eastern Cape town of Cala on Sunday to vote for his party in the local government elections if they wanted to receive water, electricity, free houses, tarred roads and street lights.
“I am asking you to pray for the ANC as we go towards the election on May 18,” Mantashe said during a packed church service at the St Johns Apostolic Faith Mission church.
“We are promising to give you water, electricity, roads and street lights, but only if you pray for the ANC and that we win the elections.”
Mantashe who had been campaigning in the area during the weekend, is a member of the church and had been invited to address the worshipers.
Outside, a band of trumpeters and drummers from Apostolic churches around South Africa prepared to play music for him.
Mantashe joked that he once had the choice between church and politics, but that he had been forced to choose politics. He said the decision voters would have to make on May 18 would be “as important”.
‘If I could have a tap it would be much easier”
“You must know who you are voting for,” he said.
“But I am advising you to vote for the ANC. If you feel that you are not able to vote for the ANC you can go to other parties, but know that the ANC will always lead the country.”
Outside the church, locals from Cala queued in the mud and rain for their names to be called so they could collect their five-litre ration of water for the day.
Tembisa Ngcobela said what she would like more than anything was her own tap with running water.
“I have four sons and they are at school,” she said.
“I am happy with that. I am happy they have education and they have opportunities, but if I could have a tap it would be much easier,” she said.
A woman standing beside Ngocobela, also waiting for water, said she had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and she would like to receive better treatment from the clinic in the area.
“The government has brought us many things,” she said. “But there are still many things that we do not have. If they want me to continue vote for them, they must give us the things like the tarred roads and the taps.”
Sexwale in Alexandra
Meanwhile, in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said the government would inject R90-million into the township.
“I come from this place, I know it. Comrades, we are not going to turn our backs on you. On the 18th we are going to elect councillors who are servants of the people and not the boss of the people,” he said to applause and cheers of Stjwetla residents, during an ANC election campaign.
The visit on Sunday followed a door-to-door campaign in Alexandra last week, where feedback suggested that no influential ANC leaders had recently visited the area.
The government had identified 12 hectares of land in Linbro Park, Botshabelo extension and Lombardy East for redevelopment.
He promised nearly R100-million in development funds for the area.
“Ninety-million rand, that’s what I am bringing today. It’s me at the top, I work with Nomvula [Mokonyane] and the MEC [provincial minister]. We sit together and look for the land. That R90-million must reach the ground. We must have earth movers, spades, fencing and bricks,” said Sexwale. – Sapa