WITH less than two months before the local government polls, the war of words, policies and insults among political parties has taken centre stage as election fever grips South Africa.
It is time for the final push and the euphoria is overwhelming.
Almost the entire country is caught up in the election fever following the proclamation of the election date by COGTA minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Wednesday.
There are already huge posters and banners appearing on every conceivable surface in the towns and major cities, from rooftops to buildings to lampposts.
Cars and vans equipped with loudspeakers are already travelling throughout the country, announcing various candidate messages and election promises.
On Wednesday, the Democratic Alliance put up its first election posters in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, sending a loud and clear message to the ANC and other contesting parties about its political intentions in this hotly contested election, party leader John Steenhuisen said.
“We are ready for these elections, and we are ready to bring real change to metros and municipalities destroyed by years of ANC failure. The message on our posters – and our national slogan for these elections – is simple: “The DA gets things done”. Across all spheres of government this ability to deliver is the only criteria that matters, but it is particularly true at local government level where citizens are immediately and directly impacted by the efficiency or failure of their government. There is no other party in South Africa that can make this claim,” said Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen said the DA posters will also serve as a daily reminder that the official opposition party was the only significant party willing and ready to contest these elections.
“While the ANC, and others, have been desperately trying to get the elections postponed because their internal warfare and their shambolic finances have left them in no position to launch a campaign of any sort, the DA has already put in a year’s work in finalising lists, fine-tuning our messaging and producing our campaign material,” he said.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) announced on Wednesday that it will host its 2021 Local Government Elections Manifesto Launch in Johannesburg on September 26 2021.
Action SA president Herman Mashaba is on a charm offensive and visiting eligible voters and undecided South Africans to vote for his new centrist party.
“We are changing minds and winning hearts. The only party on the ground speaking to the people,” said Mashaba.
African Content Movement (ACM) president Hlaudi Motsoeneng told Power FM on Wednesday that he was optimistic about the upcoming local government elections.
With the local government elections set to take place on November 1 2021, Motsoeneng believes the foundation has been laid for his party to grow.
“I have been building my own movement, especially at home Maluti-A-Phofung because I need to have a foundation. After building that foundation a very, very strong foundation – the movement is growing very well in Maluti-A-Phofung,” he said.
“I am very excited because that is where I come from. I am a rural boy so many people know me in that area so they follow me. I don’t want to talk about the growing of the movement. Let’s wait for the election and we will talk there.”
The ANC deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte said the governing party is already planning the mother of all election campaigns as early as this weekend.
She said the ANC plans to unleash its volunteers and door-to-door campaigning in the run-up to local government elections as it navigates its way around a striking workforce and Covid-19 regulations limiting election rallies.
Duarte insisted on Tuesday that the party should not be written off just because it did not have money.
“We are not going to be afraid to put our foot into every space where it is possible.”
Duarte said the party would hold its strategic and planning meeting on Sunday and Monday to finalise campaign messaging to be sent out via volunteers and cell phones.
The IEC handed the ANC a lifeline on Monday after it reopened the registration process for candidates.
The ruling party missed the deadline to field all its candidates in more than 30% of municipalities.
Market research firm, Ipsos, said a recent political opinion poll has shown a possible decrease in support for the ANC in the upcoming Local Government Elections.
The opinion poll revealed that 49-percent of people chose the ANC, 17.9 percent went with the DA and the EFF received 14.5 percent.
In the 2019 national election, the ANC received 57.5 percent of the vote, the DA 20.8 percent and the EFF 10.8.
Ipsos Director Mari Harris said people were picked at random to participate in the survey.
“It was done via computer-assisted telephone interviewing. We phone from our centre, but we programmed the computer to randomly select phone numbers in the country but a person does the interview,” said Harris.
“We did 1501 interviews in 5 days – from the 16 to 20 August – and theoretically, everybody in the country had a chance to be selected, everybody with a mobile phone that is.”
- Inside Politics
