Political parties ratcheted up the rhetoric this weekend ahead of the local government elections on Wednesday.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille told a crowd in Lebogang, Mpumalanga, that they could choose five more years of poor service delivery and toyi-toying, or they could choose five years of steadily increasing access to housing and basic services by choosing the DA
Zille was handed a memorandum by the community in August, and promised to personally deliver it to President Jacob Zuma.
“In August last year, you asked me to come and see the living conditions here and I did. I was shocked at what I saw. You had every right to be angry about the way this municipality has neglected your needs,” she said.
“I thought that things might have improved here by now. I thought that President Zuma might have done something after I delivered your memorandum to him.
“But, if anything, things are getting worse. You have no basic services because the people in power have stopped caring about you. They care more about themselves than those they are supposed to serve. It is the same all over South Africa,” she said.
“It doesn’t have to be like this here in Lebogang,” Zille said.
She reminded the community that it had asked her to “please fix things” during her previous visit.
“I explained that the DA will do its best to help, but there is a limit to what we can do in opposition.
“To really make a difference, we need to be in government,” she said.
Zille said nine months after her visit, the community had a chance to bring about real change by making a different choice on Wednesday.
“… [T]he truth is, protest marches don’t change anything, because making a noise doesn’t always make a difference. The only way to bring about real change in a democracy is through your vote,” she said.
“It is no good voting ANC on Wednesday and toyi-toying on Thursday. If you vote for the wrong party, you only have yourself to blame.
“Your vote is the most powerful weapon you have. Use it responsibly on May 18. Use it to achieve an outcome that might change your life. Use it to vote DA,” Zille said.
“If we haven’t delivered after five years, you can take your vote back and give it to someone else,” she said.
Malema on the warpath
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema was on the warpath over the weekend, taking swipes at Zille and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
“There is no democracy in the IFP. An old man who is refusing to go on retirement even when he is sick wants to die president of the IFP,” Malema said in Msinga, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, on Saturday.
He referred to Zille as the “madam” who “moves around doing a monkey dance looking for votes”.
Meanwhile, Buthelezi said the ANC was a “self-centred and uncaring government”, adding that the National Freedom Party (NFP) was driven by “personal ambition”.
The NFP is a IFP splinter group led by former IFP national chairperson Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi.
“The truth is that voting for this new party is no different from voting for the ANC, whose influence and finances in the NFP are there to see for anyone who cares to look. The NFP is a party with not a single credible personality or policy.”
Meanwhile, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal welcomed new members Moses Vandayar and Neville Naidoo, who had defected from the IFP.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions used the weekend’s electioneering to describe Zille as a “genetically modified individual” who had only realised the values of former president Nelson Mandela in 1999.
In Gauteng, the DA accused the South African Broadcasting Corporation of bias for refusing it live coverage while devoting a two-hour live broadcast to the ANC’s final rally in Johannesburg.
The DA claimed the decision violated the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act (IBAA) because it was not equitable or consistent.
The SABC dismissed the allegations.
“The decision to cover the rally live was based on the newsworthiness of the event, which was the biggest political rally since 1994.” group executive of SABC news and current affairs Phil Molefe said.
“The SABC is satisfied that its overall coverage of this election has been fair, consistent, and equitable. In fact, the DA enjoyed greater coverage in proportion to its current representation in local government,” Molefe said in a statement.
The DA also announced that it would provide real-time coverage of the election results, including analysis and projections, via Twitter.
President Jacob Zuma joined Twitter just last week, using his first tweet to encourage South Africans to vote. He had more than 600 followers within an hour.
The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) on Sunday attacked the ANC’s religious pronouncements, accusing it of blasphemy.
These included the pronouncement that “the ANC will rule till Jesus comes”, “the ANC, SACP and Cosatu Alliance is the holy trinity”, “voting for the ANC is a ticket to heaven” and likening the Freedom Charter to the Bible.
Denying that it was trying to canvass support, the CDP said it was merely asking people to express their disapproval and dissuade the ANC from continuing its declarations.
The government was at pains over the weekend to reassure the public that everything was in place to ensure the elections went smoothly.
The government printing works said more than 100Â 000 identity documents had been produced and distributed since the end of April, and police national commissioner General Bheki Cele said 50Â 000 police would be on duty for the elections. – Sapa