IFP concludes election campaign in Alex
ALEXANDRA - The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) concluded its municipal elections campaign in Alex on 30 July in Ward 75, which it once controlled but is currently run by the African National Congress.
The campaigners arrived in convoy and went door to door, as well as meeting and greeting residents with support from its youngsters who distributed pamphlets. The ward’s residents are from the infamous Madala and Nobuhle hostels, and densely and overcrowded shacks with dwellers reliant on the bucket toilet system.
The hostels are regularly in the news for their abhorrent conditions with part of Madala’s roof having been in a state of disrepair for years after it was brown off by the wind. Also, the hostels have dysfunctional sewerage systems and water and electricity issues. In the absence of concrete plans, residents worry about a disease outbreak due to the uncontrolled rat population.
The party’s provincial secretary, Alco Ngobese led the campaign with ward candidate Zakele Mbonani. Ngobese said with the National Freedom Party (NFP) unlikely to participate in the elections, which they didn’t delight in, its members were sympathetic to the IFP, with some committing to vote for it, increasing the IFP’s likelihood for victory in this and other wards where the two parties enjoyed huge support.
In reference to Sandton, Ngobese said it was unacceptable that citizens should, 22 years into democracy, still live in squalor next to the richest square mile in Africa.
He said government had failed the residents by not fulfilling its 2009 commitment to have eradicated shacks, and the 2010 commitment to have converted single room hostels to family units by 2014.
“It’s unacceptable that every time when asked, government says the money for converting the hostels and building more houses has been reprioritised for other things. It’s either they have rechanneled it to areas where they have support other than hostels which are predominately occupied by IFP members, or the money has been lost to corruption,” he alleged.
Ngobese said winning the ward will enhance the IFP’s chance to influence the provision of basic services which is a Constitutional right, and expand the party’s impact through clean governance. He said they had received clean audits in seven KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, including in Nkandla. “Our Ward 75 councillor nominee will also prioritise crime, in particular robberies, stabbings and the rape of women which sometimes happened during the day. We will also motivate for crèches to be established in all hostels countrywide.”
Mbonani said he was confident that he would take the ward. “We have thrown everything into the campaign, and some NFP members have committed to support us if they are not reinstated by the Independent Electoral Commission,” he said, committing to prioritise job creation, the provision of basic services, particularly electricity, water, housing, equal opportunity for all, and a clean and transparent council.
