Cape Town - He was nine years old when she ran her first election campaign in the Western Cape in 1994.
But now, DA regional manager Jaco Londt from George will go head to head with Human Settlements Deputy Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks in their respective election campaigns for the ANC and DA in the province.
Londt, born in Oudtshoorn, has been with the DA since December 2005. He left his studies at the University of Pretoria to work as a party researcher in the Mpumalanga provincial legislature.
“I got into politics by accident and I enjoyed it.
“By accident might be the wrong word, but my parents could only pay for two years of my studies, and when that ended I asked: What now? And then I saw the job at the DA,” he said.
Londt moved to George in 2009 to work as DA regional manager responsible for the management of the party in the Eden, Overberg and Central Karoo districts.
In 2011, he ran the party’s local government election campaign. “We ran a successful campaign and we moved from controlling just five municipalities before the elections to 11 out of 17 municipalities,” he said.
Londt said the DA would manage a registration campaign between July and November and prepare for a possible registration weekend early in 2014.
Asked how he compared to Kota-Fredericks, he said: “We differ immensely, but I know what I am capable of and I know what my party can do well”.
On the other side of the ring is veteran Kota-Fredericks, who was born in Cape Town and has been an MP since 1994.
She describes herself as a product of 1976.
“I was at Langa High School and part of the group of students who protested on August 11, 1976,” she said.
She ran the ANC’s first 1993/94 election campaign in the province and was the UDF publicity secretary in the province at the time.
“It was extremely difficult then, we didn’t know about elections, it was a new terrain. It was eye-opening but exciting,” she said.
Kota-Fredericks said the ANC saw the “social distance” between the DA-controlled provincial government and people as an opportunity to win back support for the party.
“People are recipients of government services and communities are suspicious, whereas when they are active participants they know where government’s hurdles are… That social distance is an opportunity for the ANC,” she said.
She said the ANC strategy was to bring as many national leaders and ministers to the province to visit communities.
Kota-Fredericks said they would focus on Khayelitsha and Delft to attract more young voters.
“All our energies are focused on the youth and to get them registered. We have decided that wherever we organise for people to come together, we will get the IEC to work with us,” she said.
Kota-Fredericks said the ANC would run its registration campaign right up to the elections.
“The migration patterns in the Western Cape makes it difficult for us to say when we will end our registration campaign because people come into the province every day,” she said.
Kota-Fredericks said while she had more experience under her belt, she said she wanted to give Londt the “benefit of the doubt and hope he does well for his party”.
Cape Times