The Gauteng ANC has approached former provincial premier Tokyo Sexwale to step up its campaign ahead of the upcoming elections in a bid to improve on its meager 2019 numbers.
TThe Gauteng ANC has approached former provincial premier Tokyo Sexwale to step up its campaign ahead of the upcoming elections in a bid to improve on its meager 2019 numbers.
The party has already sent former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Galema Motlanthe to campaign in a bid to maintain its majority in the state.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian after a speech in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday, ANC Gauteng provincial chairperson Panyaza Lesufi said the public was in a state of shock in the days leading up to national and local elections on 29 May. He said he would look at the ruling party's structure.
“Thirty-two days left, we will surprise you. Ignore us with your own parallels,” he said.
Lesufi added that the ANC's election campaign would be gradual, and said that in addition to Seksware, former party and state vice president David Mabuza would also intensify its push into the state.
“You’re going to see all these faces because you have to keep the campaign interesting,” he said.
“If we didn’t use Thabo Mbeki, would people still be interested in the ANC campaign? So the campaign needs a lot of work to ensure it’s relevant, that there is interest and that there are supporters. There are stages.”
Mr Lesufi, who is also Gauteng's premier, had hinted that Mr Mbeki was campaigning for the ANC in Soweto, Gauteng and the country's largest town. This is Mbeki's first election campaign with the party since 2007, when his relationship with former president Jacob Zuma soured.
South Africa's second democratically elected president told reporters in Soweto that he would be seen by many people during the election campaign, a move the president had previously made to the ANC. It did not mean that the concerns raised were set aside.
“I came to Jabulani to ask the people of Soweto to vote for the ANC on May 29th. It has been a long time since I came to Soweto and I think the response has been very good. “We're going to be here again because we think it's important to get back to ,” he said.
“We know there are many problems in the country and there are problems within the ANC. When we say we vote for the ANC, we are voting for the ANC itself to ensure that it fulfills its responsibilities to the people. We're saying we're going to address the issue.”
In 2019, the ruling party narrowly won the state with a margin of 50.19%, which was a decline from its 2014 result, when it won 53.59% of the vote.
Lesego Makhubela, Gauteng ANC spokesperson, did not provide any evidence for his claims and said internal polls predicted the party would win the province with between 55% and 62% of the vote. insisted.
Speaking to the M&G this week, Mr Makhubela accused the Democratic Alliance and Action SA of “fabricating” a poll that revealed the ANC would lose its majority in the province.
In an interview with the M&G last month, DA leader John Steenhuisen, managing partner of Victory Research, one of the polling companies that predicts the ANC will not win the election outright, said: John van der Burgh has admitted to working for the ANC. He was polling the party in the DA.
Mr Makhubela said: “Exposing to each other how MPs and ActionSA collaborate and conspire to deploy propaganda and fabricate surveys and polls to prepare voters for something that will never happen. I’m glad you’re here. ANC is powered down.”
Opposition parties also claim that the ANC is using the Nasi Hispani initiative (a Lesufi job-creation campaign that absorbed thousands of young people into provincial government) to attract voters to the next election, and that it is using government resources for campaigning. accused of using.
But Makhubela said the job boost was part of listening to voters' concerns about unemployment, including the country's lack of rolling Eskom power outages, which have been a feature of daily life for more than a decade, for more than a month. He said that this also includes.
“They told us even before the election that we needed to fix Eskom, so they sent in the most qualified people.” [people] To go and address Eskom issues and that is why as we speak now, load shedding is a thing of the past,” he said.
With new forces such as ActionSA, the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party and the Patriotic Alliance expected to have a say in Gauteng, the ANC has made no dent in the outcome by calling on its leading figures to campaign for the party. It looks like he's not letting it go.
Commenting on Seksware's recruitment, Makhubela called the former provincial premier a “towering giant of the revolution”, adding that Seksware was known across Gauteng.
Mr Makhubela said in an interview with the M&G on Thursday that Mr Sexwale was Gauteng's first premier, a towering giant of the revolution and one of the province's most respected residents.
“This means that the ANC's leading figures now support the renewal of the ANC and show confidence in the ANC movement,” Makhubela said.
He added that sexwolves would be sent to campaign hubs such as squatter camps, wealthy suburbs and farm areas of the state.
“There is no specific goal. He will be speaking to everyone who is eligible to vote and everyone who is not eligible to vote.”
