Cape Town - An ANC march expected to draw thousands of people in Mitchells Plain turned out to be a damp squib, when rain kept all but about 60 people away.
The group had planned to march from the Rocklands Civic Centre to the Mitchells Plain town centre, but at 10.30am ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman announced the march would not go ahead.
Instead, Fransman and Cosatu’s Western Cape provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich, who were due to lead the march, led a convoy of vehicles on a visit to residents in the informal settlement.
Before the group left, Fransman and Ehrenreich told the small group from the back of an ANC truck that thousands of people had been adversely affected by the weather.
“We are calling on people to donate blankets, food and clothes to the people of Mitchells Plain,” Fransman said.
Ehrenreich accused the DA-controlled provincial government of neglecting areas such as Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Manenberg and Langa, and “maintaining the privileges of apartheid” in areas such as Constantia, Milnerton and Bloubergstrand.
“We serve notice on the DA: ‘You’ve neglected our people for too long. This is a move to get you out of the province and the city’,” he said.
The convoy of vehicles stopped at seven shacks opposite the Kapteinsklip Station, where members of the ANC group spoke to some residents.
But one resident, 22-year-old Revaughn Bandle, who said he was a supporter of the Dagga Party, was not impressed.
“I’m in shock from these cars arriving here. I was still sleeping when they arrived. If people come here, I feel something will happen. But then they just stand there and pose for pictures for the news-papers.”
He said his belongings had been confiscated several times by law enforcement officers. - Sunday Argus