ANC Sedibeng regional task team head Mlungisi Hlongwane says the ruling party is determined to score decisive victory in the upcoming national elections set for May 29.
Hlongwane was speaking to Bua Sedibeng News in an exclusive interview held at the ANC regional headquarters in Vereeniging, Vaal Triangle in Gauteng recently.
Hlongwane, who doubles up as the provincial chairman of the South African National Civic Organization (Sanco), said the relative peace enjoyed by South Africans during the thirty- year reign of the ANC since the first democratic elections in 94 should be the motivating factor for electorates to cast their ballot in favor of the former liberation movement.
He said while the world is embroiled in conflict as evidenced by the Russia/Ukraine war and the Middle East clashes between Israel and Palestine South Africans have been spared.
“I’m appealing to the masses of our people to go out in numbers and express their patriotism by renewing the mandate of the ANC as a celebration of thirty years of freedom and peace,” he said.
Hlongwane said in relation to service delivery in Sedibeng all three water works in the district are currently receiving a facelift.
He said this mean the sewer challenges troubling locals will be a thing of the past once pipe fittings to these facilities are fixed.
He blamed vandalism of essential government infrastructure such as transformers and cables as the root cause of many societal ills.
Hlongwane said as opposed to using force, more education is needed in making communities of the cost effect of such acts.
“We do not want to be bringing in the military to solve what we can solve by talking to our people to guard these facilities vigorously, we are looking at installing CCTV cameras near these facilities to protect them,” he said.
On fighting unemployment and hunger, Hlongwane said the ANC has taken a principled position to support Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) in calling for a Basic Income Grant (BIG) for all the unemployed.
He said this will take cue from the current Covid19 SRD grant of R370 which has been in place since the pandemic began in 2020.
He added the Vaal River is a major resource which the party wishes to exploit in its endeavors to create jobs.
“We are determined to develop our water industry. On top of that the Vaal has been an anchor of the country’s steel industry led by Arcelor Mittal Steel, and we are proud that the department of trade and industry is looking at the reindustrialization of the steel industry,” he said.
The target of these initiatives, he said, is the employment of young people in the region.
Hlongwane said the rejuvenation of the township economy is also high priority for the ANC going forward.
He said: “We want young people involved in the whole value chain of developments coming into townships. We no longer want our people to be only consumers of goods brought into townships but to directly benefit in the supply value chains thereof.”
He warned that when malls came into townships everybody was excited about them, adding the negative outcome of these developments is that many smaller shops were wiped out.
“Very few small and medium businesses did not benefit from the development of these malls, moreover foreign nationals came into townships and compounded the situation, now we say we want our people to reclaim that space,” said Hlongwane.
Townships should have warehouses and distribution centers, said Hlongwane, adding that big business should not be begged to create jobs for locals.
He said access to finance by small and medium businesses would be easier when they have a solid clientele to present to the banks.
He added the ANC was pushing for agro-processing and mineral beneficiation as another avenue of creating jobs for young people in Sedibeng.
“We are set on implementing the ANC manifesto on food security and enhancing already set up agri-hubs in Sebokeng and surrounding areas,” he said.
Hlongwane indicated the ANC in the region has never been united in pursuit of common goals as is the case currently.
The RET head said naysayers who see divisions in the ruling party are confusing the culture of robust debates in the organization with divisions.
“All alliance partners are on board, SANCO, Cosatu and the SA communist party, we had an extended regional elections task team meeting wherein all our alliance partners threw their weight behind the ANC manifesto,” he explained.
He said judging from the 2021 elections, the ANC has nothing to worry about the opposition political parties threatening its grip on power in Sedibeng.
Hlongwane said even though the ANC had no fully mobilized voters in 2021 it still managed to win all the wards under it.
“The opposition is very weak at present, the DA has declined and the EFF made it weaker by taking members from it, the new comers are none of our concern since they had not proven their electoral worth as yet,” he lamented.
He concluded by taking a swipe at the DA for the controversial election advert depicting the burning of the country’s flag.
Hlongwane said the DA advert displayed the highest level of betrayal to the South African voter.
“The DA wishes to bring back the old flag. In other countries they would be charged with treason, they are promoting violence and reducing the pride of our people in their national symbols,” he added.
