With the fight for the control of the Eastern Cape in full swing, ANC national leader Senzo Mchunu said the party would regain its “flowery” smell after the conclusion of the state capture inquiry, while the DA said it would lead a rates boycott if service delivery did not improve in Komani.
Meanwhile former EFF provincial leader and ex-ANC member Themba Wele told the Daily Dispatch he had defected to the African Transformation Movement (ATM) because the ANC did not just have a bad smell, but was “dead”.
Mchunu and ANC provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane led a blitz in Bhisho on Monday. Other party leaders were in King William’s Town and Ginsberg, Zwelitsha, trying to convince voters to place their faith in the ANC on May 8.
In an interview, Mchunu said the ANC should not be dismissive when concerns were raised about the party including “questionable” individuals on its lists of representatives for the upcoming elections.
Mchunu said South Africans should wait for the finalisation of investigations and the conclusion of the Zondo Commission so that those implicated could be held to account.
He said the ANC had decided that there should be a commission into allegations of state capture because “we were becoming more and more aware of the smell that is coming from within the organisation and that the ANC is no longer as beautiful as it used to be”.
“The smell is no longer as flowery as it used to be. We decided that let us not politicise this thing. We decided that the commission must be out of political debate,” Mchunu said.
His comments came after the finalisation of the party’s provincial and national lists where individuals who have been implicated in scandals have been included on the list of candidate MPs and MPLs. Mchunu, who is also the ANC’s chair of organising and campaigns, said the party needed a “clean vote”, not a vote with heavy heart or with tears.
“Watch this space, because people still have to come to the commission and account. All other law enforcement agencies are out there listening and will have to take their actions.
“We are saying those people who are concerned must wait for the due processes so when those processes kick in we are decisive,” he said.
Asked about the inclusion of people who are still facing serious allegations on the party’s provincial list, Mabuyane said the party took its proposed candidates through its integrity committee and the electoral commission also had its own verification processes.
“We appeal to South Africans to be patient and give people a chance because at a particular point, people must be able to be found guilty,” Mabuyane said.
DA premier candidate Nqaba Bhanga led hundreds of people clad in the opposition party’s T-shirts on a service delivery protest where they handed a list of their demands to Enoch Mgijima mayor Sisisi Tolashe.
“Mayor, I am giving you three months. If the conditions of this town do not improve I will mobilise people and local business not to pay for their services. People can’t keep on paying for services they are not getting,” he said.
Bhanga said Enoch Mgijima municipality’s politicians were not doing their jobs.
“There is unemployment, municipal vehicles were auctioned, local businesses are not paid by the municipality and the municipality can’t even collect refuse.
“People of this municipality are not serviced and refuse is not collected,” he said.
In its memorandum, the DA called for a forensic investigation of municipal finances, dating back to the 2015-16 financial year.
DA national spokesperson for basic services Makashule Gana said the services in Enoch Mgijima were deteriorating.
“There is corruption and the municipality is running out of money,” he said.
Tolashe, who seemed disinterested, accepted the memorandum and went back to her office without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Wele sang the praises of his new political home, the African Transformation Movement (ATM), saying since the advent of democracy, none of the established parties came close to the new kids on the block. He cited the party’s policies and religious foundations.
“ATM is not about sitting in offices or halls, but having to go to the ground because our people are in trouble. The ANC has sold out; people under that ANC do not have rights. We have not seen anything in the past 25 years in governance besides poverty and unemployment and that happens a lot to black people,” Wele said..
“There is no ANC, the ANC is dead. The ANC visits people when they want votes. We do not have a president. The current one is a businessman and he’s looking after the interest of white people and the rich.”..