The strong African National Congress (ANC) presence in Cape Town ahead of its 113th rally appears to have rattled the Democratic Alliance (DA) which is governing the City of Cape Town Metro and the Western Cape province with comfortable majorities.
The DA public relations machinery is out and about once again having to justify the party’s claim of good governance which has been exposed to mean service delivery for the affluent ( largely white) while Africans are confined to unserviced far flung townships with little to no hope.
The ANC’s choice of Khayelitsha for hosting the rally in particular created a publicity crisis for the DA as the township is barely serviced with sewer flowing in the streets undisturbed creating an abundance of talking points for the invading leaders of the liberation movement who are on a campaign to improve its fortunes following a disastrous general election in May which forced it to go into a coalition, ironically with the very DA its now going tow to tow with.
“Oh, and just to add, Khayelitsha has clean reliable drinking water, which a growing number of ANC-governed municipalities, eg Johannesburg, do not,” said DA Federal Leader Helen Zille in a post on X despite evidence to the contrary.
The pushback by DA quickly led the party into being taken to task over its failure to provide residents of Hamanskraal with clean drinkable water when it governed the City of Tshwane for 8 years.
The capital’s ANC-EFF coalition which includes Action SA camped in Hammanskraal upon taking over the city in October last year and this week residents got the first drop of water with a plant package being brought online in various phases.
Zille tried in vain to blame the Hammanskraal water crisis on the ANC with most residents pointing out to her that the city’s DA administration neglected black areas spending all resources in white areas ( which ultimately led to a fallout with Action SA collapsing the coalition ultimately).
“You will recall the Rooiwal 5. They were officials who manipulated the Rooiwal tender in favour of a Sodi-linked company. The DA fired the Rooiwal 5 as a result. The ANC/ASA led coalition is reinstating them,” she said in reference to the multimillion reticulation tender currently being investigated for possible irregularities.
“Helen has been telling lies saying where they govern, services are delivered to our people. They know very well that their service delivery focus areas are the affluent ones, “ said ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula during a mini rally in Khayelitsha.
The ANC which has a number of ministers and deputies engaging residents in and around Cape Town is documenting service delivery and promises to ensure they are quickly escalated to national government departments, a move that may endear the party with black and coloured communities who are feeling neglected under DA rule.
The Government of National Unity partners have increasingly been at each other’s throats with claims of sabotage and competition for credit.
This week the ANC, along with the EFF, condemned the DA for allegedly using City of Tshwane top officials loyal to former mayor Celliers Brink to destabilise the municipality.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the keynote address at January 8 anniversary rally on Saturday.