Staff Reporter
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to the people of QwaQwa in eastern Free State to vote for the party in the forthcoming local government elections so that they could root out corruption and hire qualified staff in a bid to improve service delivery.
Ramaphosa said he was aware that people in the area were not happy with the level and quality of services received, particularly the provision of water and sanitation, electricity as well as free government houses which were last built in 1999 in Harrismith and neighbouring towns.
“Many of our municipalities are not serving our people well and as the ANC we say we are going to fix our municipalities,” he said to loud applause from party supporters who gathered at the Intabazwe Community Stadium on Sunday.
“We must change our local government . . . we are going to put the right people in our municipalities.
“We are going to root out all the corrupt people in our municipalities. We are going to put in people who can do the work properly.
“We want to put the right people in our municipalities. People who know the work.”
Ramaphosa also indicated that the ANC wants more young people to get involved in municipal councils at a high level including leading as mayors.
“We are going to put in young people . . . at least 25 percent of the councillors will be young people . . . we must change our local government,” he said.
ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula affirmed Ramaphosa’s promises in a Twitter post on Sunday saying since the advent of democracy in 1994, the ANC has made great progress in meeting people’s basic needs and is committed to do more.
In a graphic illustration, Mbalula said the government has invested about R1.2 trillion in national infrastructure projects in the last 10 years.
He said about 17.5 million South Africans now receive social grants while the 4.5 million people living with HIV are receiving ARVs, compared to 2.4 million in 2014.
In terms of education, he said 94.3 percent of South Africans can now read and write – the figure stood at only 51 percent in 1994.
Turning to the topical issues of water, electricity and housing, Mbalula said life had vastly improved for the majority of South Africans.
He said 88.6 percent of South Africans have access to clean drinking water, compared to 51 percent in 1994.
At least 84 percent South Africans now have their homes electrified, unlike only 36 percent in 1994.
A total of 3.2 million free houses have been built in the country since 1994, one million of which were built between 2014 and 2021.
