ANC’s Secretary General visits KwaDukuza (6/05/11)

The Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), Gwede Mantashe was hosted at an eagerly anticipated ANC rally held at the KwaDukuza Town Hall on Thursday, 28 April 2011 by the local affiliate branch.
The rally saw the top brass of the ANC with the likes of the Regional Chairperson, Vukani Mdabe; Provincial Chairperson, Zweli Mkhize and the Regional Secretary, Ricardo Mthembu present.
The ANC supporters were reminded that Mantashe was going to motivate them so they would all vote ANC. Mantashe, in his message to the ANC faithful, alluded to the ANC Cadres of the past who fought for the freedom of their generation and generations to come.
He presented bold facts about electricity infrastructure statistics and water supply.
“In 1993 only 33% of informal settlements had electricity and now in 2011 we are up 84%. In the rural area it was a dream, now it is real. Townships have access to water,” said a buoyant Mantashe on the ANC delivering on its promises.
Mantashe assured everyone present that the ANC acknowledged the prevailing poverty still lingering after 17 years of democracy. There are still many challenges that face the ANC. He went on to say that providing free education was in full swing regardless.
He appealed to the professionals and the poor alike in his approach saying that it was not the ANC alone that ran the government but the wisdom of the people that helped strengthen this partnership of co-dependency.
He said, “If we work together we build better communities out of our own wisdom.”
Speaking on the cycles of presidential terms, Mantashe explained the internal processes used by the party in their nominations for local elections and the participation of supporters in expressing their views. He referred to the ANC as an ‘old house’ with reference to party members who leave and come back.
“When your house is 98 years old it must leak. You fix it and people leave for other parties and come back,” he explained.
He stressed that individual candidates were there to carry out the mandate of the ANC. He said that the ANC did not exist outside of the people.
In concluding he reminded everyone that on 18 May 2011 (the day of the local government elections) Walter Sisulu was going to be 99. He passionately appealed to the potential voters to honour the memory of Luthuli and Sisulu and vote ANC.
Mayor Thulani Khuluse made an impromptu appearance after Mantashe’s keynote speech to hear the people air their grievances with ANC Councillors from their respective Wards in terms of service delivery and inaction.
Khuluse took his place on stage after being seated within the ANC faithful. He along with Zweli Mkhize and other ANC executives listened attentively and took notes on what the residents of KwaDukuza had to say.
The first person, taking up the microphone, addressed issues of her Councillor not assisting in her getting an ID. A resident from Sunny Park complained about the legalities of housing issues whilst another resident, from the same area, appealed for low cost housing. A township resident appealed for basic amenities with reference to housing and toilets and another said that the KwaDukuza SAPS were useless.