In a bid to reclaim the Western Cape from the DA, ANC national head of election campaigns Fikile Mbalula has turned to former premier Ebrahim Rasool.
He has been named head of the ANC's 2019 elections campaign in the province.
The ANC lost the province to the DA in the 2009 elections, a year after Rasool’s tenure as premier was cut short when the party sacked him.
With the party’s 2019 election’s theme being “unity and renewal”, part of Rasool’s duties is to heal the division between blacks and coloureds, with an emphasis on addressing racism.
“Rasool will work with a team that will be accountable to the ANC leadership. Black and coloured people must feel like they belong in the province.
"There is a catastrophe that has pitted races against one another,” Mbalula said.
Rasool said that when the ANC calls, “you can’t say no”, adding that the DA’s “honeymoon is over. You will now know what an opposition is all about”.
“I cannot have a clear conscience that this is one province where racism abounds, where the ANC is not trusted. Our people need to be united across colour lines,” he added.
Acting provincial chairperson Khaya Magaxa said the party had “full confidence” in Rasool and he was happy “someone with integrity” had been appointed.
Mbalula also praised Mayor Patricia de Lille for doubling voter numbers for the DA, and said it was sad how the party had treated her.
Mbalula said the DA “don’t value trust and they don’t value the people who are loyal to them”.
“She has pursued an agenda that the DA does not seem to like. They say De Lille has got scandals, but they are afraid to take her to the disciplinary hearing. They short-circuit their own approaches.
“They call a congress to amend the constitution for one person, which means there is something right about this woman which they are afraid of,” Mbalula said.
He said the ANC would challenge DA leader Mmusi Maimane for running this city “like a stokvel in which he thinks he can come in here and do illegal things”.
“It is illegal what he is doing together with his people. He likes opening cases, and we are going to open one against him because this is not a banana republic - this is a democratic state,” Mbalula said.