Ramaphosa pleads for another chance

DELIVERING the ANCs manifesto and its pledge for the municipal polls at Church Square in Pretoria last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised that the ANC will field candidates who are honest and competent in the November 1 local government elections.

Ramaphosa promised that the ANC would be better and deliver services promptly and consistently.

”Many municipalities are confronted by corruption and mismanagement, which divert crucial resources needed to meet the needs of the people.

“Over the past two years, we have made important progress in ending state capture and fighting corruption,” he said.

“We have done this both within the government and within the ANC.”

Ramaphosa said they would end the outsourcing of essential local government functions and labour broking, and to work to create sustainable municipal jobs.

“Too many local government functions are still outsourced. This weakens the ability of municipalities to fulfil their basic functions and creates more room for corruption and malfeasance,” he said.

The launch came as EFF leader Julius Malema vowed to challenge any move to disqualify his party from participating in the elections after the DA lodged a formal complaint with the Electoral Commission (IEC) yesterday claiming that the EFF undermined Covid-19 regulations during its manifesto launch on Sunday, which attracted more than 15 000 people.

The DA urged the IEC and Minister of Police Bheki Cele to act against the EFF for allegedly contravening the National Disaster Management Act, which under lockdown level 5 means all public and outdoor gatherings must have a maximum attendance of 500 people.

DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone said all South Africans have been “forced to live by the ANC's senseless lockdown rules. However, there cannot be one set of rules for ordinary citizens and another for the EFF”.