With a little less than a week before South Africans head to the much-anticipated polls to cast their votes, it remains to be seen who will occupy the Union Buildings.
Wednesday, May 29, will be a watershed moment in the history of South Africa, 30 years after the dawn of democracy as millions of citizens go to make their choice between the 52 political parties contesting.
During The Star’s political dialogue at the Joburg Theatre on Wednesday, where various political party leaders were in attendance to woo South Africans for their vote, the governing ANC was yet again under siege.
Speaker after speaker laid down the gauntlet to the party, all in agreement that the party’s governance was a blatant disappointment for the past 30 years.
The Sun Party, Rise Mzansi, the ANC, the SA Rainbow Alliance and Build One SA (Bosa) were represented by their respective leaders, along with independent candidate, Louis Liebenberg.
The fiery debate descended into chaos when former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Thuthukile Zuma, representing the ANC, took to the podium.
The room, which was packed to the rafters with different political party supporters, started heckling the feisty Zuma who continued to talk despite being drowned out by the noise.
The programme had to stop for nearly an hour after supporters started heckling the speakers during the debate. However, it continued after The Star editor and moderator of the session, Sifiso Mahlangu, had all the supporters evacuated for safety reasons.
Zuma, who is a leader of the party in Greater Johannesburg, continued to make promises, saying the ANC was prioritising jobs and that had already begun implementing their plan.
“The first priority of the ANC in their manifesto is getting South Africa into work which is jobs, jobs, jobs. In our manifesto we say we are going to create 2.5 million job opportunities. We have already started that; we are not waiting for May 29. As you have seen in Gauteng with the Nasi Ispani programme which has employed thousands of people in different types of posts, some of them permanent, some on contracts in different types of sectors,” Zuma said.
However, leaders of the other parties disagreed with Zuma’s views with uMkhonto weSizwe (MKP) secretary-general Sihle Ngubane saying that the time for the ANC was over as his party would have a two-thirds majority because the people of SA were tired of the country being run from “London” and “Stellenbosch”.
“South Africa is run from London and Stellenbosch because President Cyril Ramaphosa is unable to think for himself.
“They (the ANC) failed to free us from colonialism, there is nothing the ANC decides without consulting Stellenbosch…
“So the decision is not made by the black child…the ANC has never been shaken as it has since the arrival of the MKP. 2024 is the new 1994,” Ngubane said.
Leader of the newly formed Sizwe Ummah Nation (SUN) political party, Rasheed Ebrahim Gutta, called on South Africans to vote wisely in next week’s elections, saying the country is in dire need of capable and visionary leaders.
“The ANC-led government under President Cyril Ramaphosa has mismanaged the country and continues the pillaging and looting unabated…
“The continued load shedding, water shortages and collapse of Transnet, among other state-owned entities, have had a devastating effect on the economy and living conditions of the people in this country, yet the ANC-led government wants to be given another opportunity,” Gutta said.
SA Rainbow Alliance (Sara) leader Colleen Makhubele said her party was going to Parliament to repeal the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill.
“We are not going to have a bill that says a 12-year-old girl can have an abortion without parental consent. As a God fearing party that’s a no. There is no parent in their right mind who can allow their young girls to have an abortion without their consent.
“Men are doing evil stuff with our young girls and they want to hide it. By the age of 20, how many abortions that girl would have had?” asked Makhubele.
Rise Mzansi premier candidate, Vuyiswa Ramokgopa, said the new party was here to stay with its primary concern being ethical leadership, in what was a veiled swipe at the ANC.
“What South lacks is quality ethical leadership…We will uproot ground issues from unemployment, education infrastructure and service delivery with our first priority being to capacitate the state,” said Ramokgopa.
Independent candidate and diamond mogul, Louis Liebenberg, said he had committed himself to changing the lives of zama zamas through artisanal mining and the empowerment of the country’s poor people.
Liebenberg, who has been advocating for the legalisation of artisanal mining, said his jobs plan will liberate the mines to create jobs for South African miners, including zama zamas.
“We will not live in this country forever, if we do not put the mines and the farms in the hands of the people.
“My story is not a political story, but the story of a businessman. When I had my story reorganised, I started thinking about the people.
“It is time to put the mines, farms, gold and platinum in the people’s hands. The government is very vocal about jobs when no one between them can create even one job,” he said.
Gauteng premier candidate and co-founder for Bosa, Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, launched an attack on both the ANC and MKP, saying the latter was a faction of the former.
The ANC had failed to serve the people of South Africa these past five years, she said.
“The priority in this country is creating jobs. It’s important to talk about practical and pragmatic solutions,” said Hlazo-Webster.
The Star