ANC Congratulates residents of the Western Cape for exercising their Right to Vote

07 August 2016

ANC congratulates all Western Cape residents for waking up at dawn, braving the long queues and occasional inconveniences to exercise their democratic right to vote. Our democracy is maturing with each election and the seamless transition from one Local Government to another speaks volumes of a great place we occupy among the league of nations.

The ANC in the Western Cape approached these local government elections with a full acknowledgement that the legacy that currently defines our City and Province, was bequeathed us, and we should not spend one more day toiling for its establishment and further entrenchment. As the ANC, we see our duty as first and foremost social justice for the poor majority, intertwined to that duty is to prosper our City and Province, and more importantly to create an environment where racial harmony and social cohesion are understood as imperatives required of all of us to faithfully perform.

How shall we achieve these goals? At what point shall we be satisfied that we have built a City that truly works for everyone? What shall be our measure of success? We asked ourselves these questions in this Campaign and we answered.

The hardliner and consistent disregard of the interest of the poor, predominantly black, which pervades this city, the growing dispossession, the normalizing of their conditions, under the DA government, has either been because the DA is not truly aware that they are being cruel toward the poor and the lowly, or they in fact think the masses of our people are deserving of such treatment. Throughout this campaign, we vowed that we will put an end to such treatment and divide.

Throughout the campaign, we vowed that we will put an end to this pervasive Tale of Two Cities, a City for the poor and a City for the Rich. As we moved from one community to another, The list of our friends, our supporters, those who would like to see a more equal and cohesive City has daily swelled by the additions of thousands. There has been no area where we brought the ANC message and there were no multitudes who came out to affirm that message.

The ANC selected 30 capable candidates to be Mayors for the Western Cape Municipalities, with a clear mandate of creating Municipalities that are at the forefront of building integrated and prospering communities, where economic development is shared and reaches everyone. This message itself seemed to suddenly find great resonance with our people, who had long grown weary in living in towns and Cities with clear roads that separate communities, mainly according to race and class.

Cape Town is a divided City, that much we needed to admit. and If we could first admit just that, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

During the our campaign, this message was reaffirm, leader after leader that, There should never be a city that is developed on racial lines, with one group of people, predominantly white, living in the part of the city that has a fully functioning economy with access to all kinds of infrastructure and privileges, and another part of the city, predominantly black, lacking even the most basic of services. Until the material conditions of all South Africans is improved and equated, the term 'well runned city' is insulting and mischievous. It is only the ANC that has the political will, the sense of urgency and the capacity to develop this city holistically and equitably.

The ANC Campaign in the Western Cape has been an outstanding campaign. We ran a Campaign to regain the City of Cape Town metro with an unmatched level of greatness. On the day of election, we stood tall, satisfied that we gave this election our best, and that our people know our noble intents, they know our sense of urgency about these intents and they know that they are at the center of these intents.

Our people have had time to contrast our vision and plan with that of the DA and today, they are more aware than they ever were about the direction we intend to take this City and other Municipalities. Despite the sad incidences, one being that of our volunteer who passed on in Struisbaai and other general set backs to voters as they stood in lines to vote, our people have largely exercised their right to vote today and they have spoken to us through their vote.

The ANC is happy with its performance in its traditional stronghold, along with the Wards and Municipalities we have reclaimed from the Democratic Alliance. We congratulate our Comrades for a sterling performance in Hessequa Municipality, and other 6 Municipalities where we have ensured there is no outright majority for the DA.

We also thank the sterling support from the ANC National Office Bearers and the NEC in ensuring these favorable results in Hessequa. We congratulate our comrades in cluster 6 in Khayelitsha, who worked hard to retained all the ANC Wards and took back Ward 99. This was the best performing cluster. We also congratulate cluster 8 (Nyanga/Philipi) where ANC won all its Wards including bringing back Ward 88.

We also congratulates cluster 4 (Gugulethu/Athlone) for retaining our Wards and the in roads in Wards 44 and 45. We are also happy with our performance in Cluster 1 (Heldeberg) and cluster 2 (Mfuleni/Delft). We congratulate all our candidates and all our supporters in all areas including cluster 10 and the Southern Suburbs. We are looking forward to a few Coalitions in a number of regions where there was no outright winner and we will announce those municipalities once such coalitions have been finalized.

We would however be amiss not to express some concerns. Incidences where residents were closed outside voting stations because of late arrival or late queues are regrettable and issues of IEC under-capacity in certain areas must be looked at. There must also be a sense of mobility with IEC staff so that we don't have other voting stations where IEC staff is not working half the day whilst others the queues go around the block. Possibility of exchange must be observed. With the majority of our people in the working class, we must condemn some employers who only allow their staff to go and vote after 17h00, which naturally risk other workers unable to arrive on time at voting stations. The pervasiveness of this matter will be looked at.

As the ANC, we must also acknowledge that some of our members are not into the habit of waking up early to go and vote, which effectively means their vote risks being lost, easily handing over these Wards and Municipalities to oppositions, their Wards to those who do wake up early and vote.

We congratulates the other parties for running a largely positive campaign and being able to get their voters to go out in their numbers to the voting stations. We will work with these parties in the next five years and we will hold them accountable for every plan, every project, every programme, and every penny. But above all, we will do our part to build the kind of City we can all be proud of.

We will have a a Special Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) meeting on Monday to receive and discuss among other things, the Local Government Elections Report, coalitions in the municipalities that we have no outright majority and the way forward for the next 5 years of Local Government.

Statement issued by Faiez Jacobs, ANC Western Cape Provincial Secretary, 7 August 2016