President Cyril Ramaphosa rounded off a successful weekend of campaigning in the Eastern Cape in Gqeberha on Sunday with large, enthusiastic turnouts in the metro that in 2016 was won by the DA.
In contrast to most other local government contests where the ANC is asking forgiveness for having done a bad job over the past five years, in Nelson Mandela Bay metro that forgiveness will have to be sought by the DA.
The ANC is playing heavily on the poor socioeconomic conditions of most residents, blaming the DA for failing to deliver.
“In 2016 we lost. But since the DA came in they did nothing for the people of Port Elizabeth. We built houses, but the DA has built nothing,” Ramaphosa said at a mini rally in ward 50 in Uitenhage.
Since 2016, the metro has been run by a shifting coalition. But due to infighting, there have been four mayors since 2016. Earlier this year, the DA’s Nqaba Bhanga became the latest to be elected.
The turnout to see Ramaphosa was so enthusiastic that the ANC had to incorporate mini-community meetings into their scheduled door-to-door programme. The crowds caused Ramaphosa obvious anxiety due to Covid-19 and he urged everyone to wear their masks and get vaccinated. He implored men in particular, who have been slow to vaccinate, to get the jab assuring them, to much laughter, that he has proof that it has increased his virility.
But it was social grants that remain the ANC’s biggest achievement and voting drawcard with Ramaphosa telling Uitenhage residents that no other country in Africa gives people welfare grants as the ANC has done. The R350 special Covid-19 grant will be available to the poor and unemployed until end-March, he said. Then the government will tell people whether it will continue beyond that.
In ward 38 in KwaNxolo, now held by the DA, the ANC put on an impressive show with droves of residents decked out in ANC colours cheering Ramaphosa and chanting “down with the DA” and “DA voetsak”. The ANC lost the ward narrowly in 2016.
Residents who attended the rally said that poor service delivery by the ANC caused people to sit at home in 2016 rather than vote.
The ground surrounding the area is strewn with refuse and plastic bags and the river and drains are clogged with rubbish.
“Service delivery by the ANC was poor; even now with the DA it is still poor. People are coming in numbers now to see Ramaphosa because the ANC listens to the people. The DA does not,” said resident Noxuzola Sonkwala.
The 2016 DA victory was a major upset for the ANC as the Eastern Cape has always been an ANC stronghold. The ANC won 40.92% of the vote and the DA 46.71% with smaller parties winning the rest. If voting patterns remain the same as 2016, independent pollster Dawie Scholtz projects that ANC will face an uphill battle to take the metro with an absolute majority.
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