Mayibongwe Maqhina|Published
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula yesterday urged voters not to waste their votes on small political and "Mickey Mouse" parties.
“Don't go with your votes and vote for ipotsoyi (a get-together marked by drinking and music) and organisations of oonomgogwana (Mickey Mouse parties). It is a waste of votes. You waste your vote on ipotsoyi because you don't know whether it is an organisation or what. It is just someone with his family. We must guard against wasting the votes,” he said.
Mbalula made the statement when he addressed the Mayihlome Ihlasele (final push) elections rally organised by the ANC Women’s League in Khayelitsha.
He arrived just before 5pm - almost six hours from the time the event was billed to start and pleaded with the restless crowd at the Kwamfundo Senior Secondary school to give him an opportunity to quickly address them.
Mbalula flew in from Durban after campaigning in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday and Sunday.
He was confident that things were looking good for the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
“I saw it myself that the comrades are strong. We are going to win in KwaZulu-Natal, especially in eThekwini.”
Mbalula said voters should vote for ANC candidate councillors in Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Gugulethu, Langa and Mitchells Plain.
“There is nothing done by the DA for our people. Don't be disillusioned and lose hope because white people are in the majority and that is why they win the elections,” Mbalula said.
Mbalula urged ANC members and supporters to come out in numbers to vote for his party on November 4.
Cape Town were living in dire and uninhabitable conditions
“Dont stay at home. If you vote, we will unseat the DA because it does not do anything for the people of Cape Town,” he said.
Mbalula said people in Cape Town were living in dire and uninhabitable conditions because the DA was unwilling to allocate land for housing purposes.
“They don't give people land. They don't build houses. The DA in Cape Town just divides people where they reside.”
Mbalula told the crowd about the allocations that were made by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana during his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement when he allocated R10 billion to deal with fuel price and the allocation made towards the fight against gender-based violence.
ANC secretary-general attacks DA’s Cape Town record
He also spoke about the indigent policy introduced by the ANC to benefit child-headed households, as well as provision of free basic water, electricity and looking after the poor since 1994.
“We don't speak about tales. Don't listen to people who make promises. We speak about what we are doing.”
Mbalula urged ANC volunteers to tell the voters about what the ANC-led government has done for the people.
He called for the support of councillors, saying they have a difficult task more than ministers as they were the first point of call for residents.
Losi backs unity in the Tripartite Alliance
“Let us not criticise them and when it is difficult, we must support them. People don't come to meetings when there are no problems even when they are called a councillor," he said.
However, Mbalula said councillors should ensure that job opportunities were not selective and that their families did not benefit first.
“Your family must be the last to receive. We must take care of the people.”
Speaking about his recent collapse after the Constitutional Court allowed the ANC to contest in municipalities where it had failed to click the "submit as final" button on the IEC’s elections portal, Mbalula said he did not faint.
“I was overwhelmed. What was standing in my mind was thinking that in this country there are people who won't vote for the ANC. It disturbed me a great deal,” he said.
“We won with the power of God, the ancestors and prayers of the people," said Mbalula.
Earlier, Cosatu general secretary Zingiswa Losi said their recent congress resolved to campaign for the alliance partners - both ANC and SACP.
Losi said there was no way the ANC can form a coalition government and not fix the Tripartite Alliance.
“We say the alliance must unite,” she said.