PORT ELIZABETH, August 1 (ANA) – The ANC’s mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay Danny Jordaan on Monday accused the opposition of “distorting history†by appropriating Nelson Mandela’s legacy in the campaign for the local government polls.
Jordaan, also the current mayor, was speaking to the African News Agency (ANA) whilst on the campaign trail in Gerald Smith (ward 48), Uitenhage in a final stretch to charm voters two days before local government elections.
Asked if he thought the ANC was the only party entitled to use Madiba’s legacy as part of the party’s campaign narrative, Jordaan responded that history produced both heroes and villains and other political parties with their “attempts†could not shift Mandela’s place in history.
He pointed out that the same parties that now claimed Mandela as their hero had attacked him while he served as South Africa’s president.
“One must look at where and how Madiba emerged as a leader. It is the the ANC who voted for him to be the president, he formed the military wing, he led the liberation struggle, he spent 27 years in jail, that history produced Nelson Mandela.
“That history is a history of struggle under the leadership of the ANC. That is the context, now if you take Nelson Mandela out of that context and re-construct a different new context outside the real historical context, then you are distorting the history of this country.â€
“The reality is when Mandela stood for the position of president, did they vote for the hero?
“These political parties who now claim he [Mandela] is their hero. Did they vote for their hero? When Mandela was the president did they sing his praises? No, they attacked Mandela left right and centre in that Parliament. Now that Mandela has no voice anymore well anyone can claim anything in his name. But historically it is a distortion, it’s factually incorrect and it just dishonest,†said Jordaan.
Warmly welcomed by residents on the streets, Jordaan spoke about anything from gardening to football and listened to their concerns around water shortages and old electricity boxes.
Eighty-year old Marie Brinkhuis showed Jordaan cracks in her house and then put on a “Danny For Mayor†t-shirt, whilst 47-year old Ricardo Hess expressed concern over his on and off water supply.
“If he can fix it I am ANC, if the ANC can help me with this problem I will be glad, I’m hundred percent confident in the ANC,†said Hess.
Jordaan bought cooldrink from a local spaza shop and told reporters he felt the “old spirit of the ANC†in the streets and was “optimistic of an ANC victoryâ€.
“If you go into the townships you will see the old spirit of the ANC, of people being happy again, happy to put on the t-shirt and happy to work for the ANC without asking for reward.â€
He further stressed that it was important to have local people representing wards.
“We cannot talk about people’s government if the people cannot find their representative, their representative must live amongst them, they must see them every day. The problems of the community must also be the problems of that ward councillor.
“Ward councillors must understand their central role in really affirming our march to a people’s government, when we say all power to the people that’s what we mean. Ward representatives must live in the wards, must be with the people and must not be missing in action and that is generally the cry all over they say I don’t even know the name of my ward councillor,†said Jordaan.
And on a lighter note Jordaan laughed when asked if he was in favour of the ANC adopting “dab†move and said that at first he thought it was a “football thingâ€.
“I saw Mamelodi Sundowns, Keagan Dolly, doing those things and I thought it was football thing, until I was educated that this is not a football thing it’s a real dance. I just see everyone is doing the dab now but I have no further view on the matter. I must understand it a little better before I can have a view on it,†he laughed.
-African News Agency (ANA)
