PHUTI MOSOMANE
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed at least 100 former members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the African National Congress (ANC) in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal.
Ramaphosa gave assurances to the former DA members who have joined the ANC, saying the party will overcome the challenges of unemployment in the country.
“We face right now a huge challenge of unemployment. But it is a challenge we believe the ANC will be able to address. Just in the past year and a half, we’ve been able to regain some of the jobs that we lost during COVID-19. We lost 2 million jobs during COVID-19 and 1.5 million of those jobs have been regained. We continue to create more and more jobs,” Ramaphosa said.
Chatsworth Ward 73 is headed for by-election following the resignation of a councillor who now joined the ANC and Ramaphosa used the opportunity to campaign for the party ahead of the next year’s general elections.
“We are faced with the challenge of electricity, everyone is affected. These problems started way back from the 2000, these problems date back to 2007. We are addressing the problem in a pointed way. The ANC over the last thirty years has improved the lives of South Africans, the ANC is the only organisation that has demonstrated that it can unite us and bonded us to one nation,” he said.
He said the ANC has changed the economic and social landscape of the country with nine million kids at school being fed by the ANC-led government.
Meanwhile, the DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal Francois Rodgers has denied knowing any of the members who the ANC claim to have taken from the DA in Chatsworth on Sunday.
In a statement, Rodgers said: “The only member we recognise is former DA councillor Ronnie Pillay who has chosen the ANC as his retirement home.”
Members of the ANC National Working Committee (NWC) continued their visits to different districts in KZN/ Musa Dladla region was visited by the national chairperson of the party, Gwede Mantashe.
On Sunday, the ANC NWC and NEC deployees met with the KZN PEC to reflect on consultations held with the party’s branches and structures across the province.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the party would not hesitate to intervene where it was necessary.
This comes after the city of eThekweni metro has been placed under Section 154 with the deployment of former Presidency Director-General Cassius Lubisi and Mike Sutcliffe to restore governance. Sutcliffe is the City’s former municipal manager now turned local government consultant.
ANC first Secretary-General Maropene Ramokgopa said the party’s NWC has taken a decision to do provincial visits.
“We have started in Limpopo and now we are in KZN meeting branches and regions of the ANC including sectoral groups and members of the Alliance,” she said.
Ramaphosa said no structure of the ANC will be disbanded.
“There is no decision, there is no plan to disband the PEC. They are rumours. We’ll be doing this in all other provinces. We’re strengthening the ANC. Take it from me, we’re strengthening, we’re not disbanding.”
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