Johannesburg – The Joburg ANC expects city mayor Herman Mashaba to vilify the party in Wednesday morning's State of the City Address, saying violence could erupt and be blamed on the ANC.
In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the opposition ANC prepared to assess the performance of the DA-led coalition nine months after Mashaba took the helm of South Africa's economic centre and announced a 10-point plan to improve the city's economy.
The ANC's Joburg Region spokesperson Jolidee Matongo asserted that his party scored Mashaba "half a point out of 10 for his spectacular failures", as the government had "not delivered in terms of the 10 Point Plan".
"Nine months after assuming office, we can confirm that the DA and its coalition government have not delivered in terms of the 10 Point Plan announced by the Mayor last year," Matongo said in a statement.
Violence has marred previous council sittings over the last year, and Matongo intimated that Mashaba's expected "vilification" of the opposition could lead to unrest during the mayor's address.
"They will do so to provoke our councillors to an extent that violence erupts and the ANC is blamed as a sore loser. We want to assure the residents of our City that the ANC will continue to constructively participate in Council meetings in order to ensure that Council decisions benefit all residents," he said.
The mayor's plan included achieving a minimum of 5% economic growth, ensuring corruption is public enemy number one and running a responsive and pro-poor government.
Although Matongo lauded Mashaba's plans and said the ANC would support them, he said the mayor was far off from achieving his ambitions.
"The cancellation of Jozi@Work program practically condemning 8000 people to unemployment and preventing a further 50 000 Joburgers from benefiting from the program over the next four years. This proves that Mashaba and the DA coalition government are anti-poor," he emphasised.