PORT ELIZABETH, June 19 (ANA) – African National Congress top brass on Sunday introduced current Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan as its mayoral candidate for the August 3 municipal elections at a public meeting in Wells Estate.
Members of the ANC national executive committee (NEC), including secretary general Gwede Mantashe, chief whip Jackson Mthembu, Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula, and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize were in Port Elizabeth for electioneering in various parts of the city.
Mantashe said a mayoral candidate was not merely an individual. "If together the mayoral candidate and other councillors constitute a good team, that is what is going to win us the metro. We will win the metro in the wards and we will win the metro in the PR lists. If we are a team of good councillors and good candidates we will win, that is what counts to the people."
Responding to a question around infighting in ANC structures in Nelson Mandela Bay, Mantashe said even if this continued Jordaan would still be mayoral candidate.
"The only thing that will convert him [Jordaan] from a candidate to a mayor is unity that will ensure that we win the metro; if we don’t win the metro he will be a candidate forever and that means you will have a metro that is run by a failed farmer [Athol Trollip]," said Mantashe.
ANC members in the city have clashed, with some people even being held hostage, over the councillor candidates’ lists. They complained that the lists had been manipulated to include people who had not been endorsed by residents.
Mantashe said the lists would not change because the registration of candidates with the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) had closed earlier in June.
Mbalula told reporters the ANC was in Nelson Mandela Bay to "walk to the talk".
"We have the budget to improve the lives of people in the metro. We are here to boost confidence and to bring about hope to the people in this important region," he said.
Jordaan told the crowd the issues facing poor people had to be dealt with and corruption, particularly around housing, rooted out.
"The problems with tenders have been dealt with; the tender process is now open to the public, it’s no longer a secret, the entire process has to be transparent.
"We want to create a metro that takes care of its people… We want to build a music hub in Singapi Street, in the Northern Areas, we want to have six cultural hubs, we want to create cultural hubs similiar to that of Vilakazi Street in Soweto."
Jordaan said the metro planned to build 826 houses and was currently dealing with the bucket system problem in Kayamandi.
"We need to work and walk together. We need diversity, that’s how we are going to create jobs. In the next five years we need to transform this metro completely, but for now come make a cross on election day," he said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
PORT ELIZABETH, June 19 (ANA) – African National Congress top brass on Sunday introduced current Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan as its mayoral candidate for the August 3 municipal elections at a public meeting in Wells Estate.
Members of the ANC national executive committee (NEC), including secretary general Gwede Mantashe, chief whip Jackson Mthembu, Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula, and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize were in Port Elizabeth for electioneering in various parts of the city.
Mantashe said a mayoral candidate was not merely an individual. "If together the mayoral candidate and other councillors constitute a good team, that is what is going to win us the metro. We will win the metro in the wards and we will win the metro in the PR lists. If we are a team of good councillors and good candidates we will win, that is what counts to the people."
Responding to a question around infighting in ANC structures in Nelson Mandela Bay, Mantashe said even if this continued Jordaan would still be mayoral candidate.
"The only thing that will convert him [Jordaan] from a candidate to a mayor is unity that will ensure that we win the metro; if we don’t win the metro he will be a candidate forever and that means you will have a metro that is run by a failed farmer [Athol Trollip]," said Mantashe.
ANC members in the city have clashed, with some people even being held hostage, over the councillor candidates’ lists. They complained that the lists had been manipulated to include people who had not been endorsed by residents.
Mantashe said the lists would not change because the registration of candidates with the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) had closed earlier in June.
Mbalula told reporters the ANC was in Nelson Mandela Bay to "walk to the talk".
"We have the budget to improve the lives of people in the metro. We are here to boost confidence and to bring about hope to the people in this important region," he said.
Jordaan told the crowd the issues facing poor people had to be dealt with and corruption, particularly around housing, rooted out.
"The problems with tenders have been dealt with; the tender process is now open to the public, it’s no longer a secret, the entire process has to be transparent.
"We want to create a metro that takes care of its people… We want to build a music hub in Singapi Street, in the Northern Areas, we want to have six cultural hubs, we want to create cultural hubs similiar to that of Vilakazi Street in Soweto."
Jordaan said the metro planned to build 826 houses and was currently dealing with the bucket system problem in Kayamandi.
"We need to work and walk together. We need diversity, that’s how we are going to create jobs. In the next five years we need to transform this metro completely, but for now come make a cross on election day," he said.
– African News Agency (Photo:ANA)
