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The ANC will hold its traditional Siyanqoba rally in Johannesburg on July 31, just three days before the local government elections.
The rally marks the ANC’s last attempt to whip up excitement around its election campaign but also serves as a show of force against the opposition because of the big numbers it draws.
The ANC’s ego was bruised in April when it failed to fill up Nelson Mandela Bay metro stadium in Port Elizabeth during its election manifesto launch.
As if to rub salt in the wound, two weeks later Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters filled up the 40,000-seater Orlando stadium in Soweto in Gauteng, the country’s economic hub.
A week earlier the Democratic Alliance had also pulled a decent crowd at the 15,000-seater Rand Stadium in Rosettenville, south of the Johannesburg CBD.
The ANC had protested that the media’s focus on the number of people attending party events took away from the content of what was being said.
Party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa termed the debate “Stadiumology” – prompting criticism that it was the ANC which consistently drew attention to the numbers it was able to draw during its mass campaigns.
However, the ANC in Gauteng has taken up the opposition’s challenge, declaring that this Saturday it would fill up the 95,000-seater FNB stadium in Nasrec with only supporters and members from the province. The stadium is the largest in Africa because its capacity was increased for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
A delighted President Jacob Zuma told a recent Gauteng ANC general council that the target to fill up FNB stadium was “a bold decision”.
“So I am happy that Gauteng has taken its own decision to fill up FNB without inviting neighbours,” said Zuma.
Even if he had not been invited, Zuma said, he would have invited himself. “Because we must show people asibona abantu bokudlala thina [we do not play games],” he said.
Zuma said the ANC “must win and win with a big majority in Gauteng in particular”. We are going to spend more time all of us here because you can’t be defeated at the headquarters, he said, referring to Luthuli House.
“Headquarters must be defended at all costs. We must defend Gauteng,” Zuma said.
