ANC must unite to claim Western Cape, says Rasool

Picture: sibusiso_thwala1

Picture: sibusiso_thwala1

Published Jul 18, 2016

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Cape Town - Former ANC provincial chairman and premier Ebrahim Rasool says the ANC needs to be more forceful in telling voters about its achievements when they were in charge of Cape Town and the Western Cape.

After addressing some of the ANC’s candidates for the local government elections in Lusaka, Nyanga, on Sunday, Rasool, in a rare appearance on the campaign trail, said the precondition to victory in Cape Town and the Western Cape was a united ANC.

“All the troubles and all the issues that come up within the ANC, we've got to resolve those and be a major force.

“As ANC candidates, we must not stand back for anyone because all the major developments which have happened in the Western Cape happened in a golden era when the ANC ruled the city and the province - the N2 Gateway, the film studio, the interchanges, the hospitals in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, and the Bambanani (community safety volunteers), which made the Western Cape safer,”said Rasool.

He said the ANC had to campaign for the future based on its manifesto, but could also boast about its performance while in charge of the Western Cape and Cape Town.

“In the absence of opposition from the ANC, the DA is getting away with telling untruths,”said Rasool.

Asked about the ANC's performance in the opposition seats and whether the party was not able to take on the DA, he said his party's politicians had not been “coherent enough”.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe also spent the weekend in the city and attended a church service in Nyanga.

While the ANC politicians and councillor hopefuls were seated inside the small Assemblies of God Church, Pastor Mjongile Mpololo told congregants not to take offence at the sight of the ANC inside the small church building.

“The church welcomes all political parties,”said Mpololo.

Mantashe, who sat next to the ANC’s Cape Town mayoral candidate, Xolani Sotashe, said: “We can't disrupt the church service because we are here.”

He said the ANC was responsible for the separation of church and state, which allowed freedom of religion.

Mantashe told congregants: “We came here to ask for prayers, that we be blessed in our mission.”

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@mtyala

Cape Times

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