The honeymoon phase is over for the three major political parties that form part of the outgoing coalition government of the City of Tshwane, as they prepare to compete against one another in Wednesday’s local government elections.
The ANC, EFF and ActionSA came together two years ago to topple then-mayor Celliers Brink, ending nearly a decade of Democratic Alliance control of the capital.
During their relatively short time in government, the new coalition managed to stabilise the city’s finances and restore services to black townships. The financial improvements included better payments to Eskom and water boards, the settlement of a longstanding labour dispute inherited from the Brink administration, as well as an increase in the municipality’s cash reserves.
Newsnote spoke to ANC Greater Tshwane Regional Executive Committee member Aaron Maluleka, who is also the MMC for Human Settlements. He expressed confidence in securing an outright victory, saying the party had regained the trust of residents.
“We are gunning for a majority victory. That’s what we are doing. We’ve consolidated our preparations. We started yesterday with special votes. All our teams were at stations very early in the morning, at 6:30. We were ready for the IEC to open the stations. We’ve picked up challenges with the IEC yesterday.
“It was just a day for them to try and improve. We are looking at improvements today. We struggled with ballot papers yesterday, but our teams are there to do the work. The fourth is a big day for us to go for a victory. We have worked in all the regions,” he said.
“We’ve reminded people of the capabilities we have as an organisation. We took them down memory lane, highlighting the revival of 13 road projects.
“If you were to look at the work that MMC Mohali did in intervening in projects that had stalled, we’ve set aside money and resuscitated those projects. We’re building roads, but we’ve also rehabilitated existing ones. In all the regions where we struggled with potholes, MMC Mohali provided visibility and oversaw the restoration of those roads.
“On finances, we are improving our audit performance. We’ve made sure that we are working towards two funded budgets,” said Maluleka.
The EFF has concentrated its campaign efforts in the townships, with its National Treasurer, Omphile Maotwe, standing as its mayoral candidate.
“We have just two MMCs who have been working hard to deliver to residents. We don’t play as the EFF. Look at how clean the city is, and that is the work of our MMC. The 24 clinics around Tshwane have also been well taken care of by MMC Mashabela,” the party said.
Meanwhile, ActionSA is campaigning under the leadership of mayoral candidate Nasiphi Moya.
“Having served as Executive Mayor for two years, Dr Moya is seeking a renewed mandate to move Tshwane from stabilisation to restoration, building on the progress made while accelerating the work required to deliver reliable services and a city that works for all its residents,” ActionSA said.