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On Friday, in an effort to win back support ahead of next year’s crucial elections, the ANC unleashed its big guns, who went on a charm offensive in various townships under the #ThumaMina campaign, which was formally launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in Tembisa.
But the governing party, which suffered huge reputational damage under former president Jacob Zuma and walked out limping from 2016’s local government elections, insists this was not a campaign to lobby for votes, but rather to regain trust in the ANC.
Head of elections Fikile Mbalula said the party had been so focused on its problems that it had neglected its mandate and was now going back to listen to communities and resolve delivery bottlenecks.
“Instead of being consumed with fighting each other, we need to get to work. In terms of uplifting people with all the challenges that we have, that work is not finding light of day. So the #ThumaMina campaign is about apprehending what we call selfishness, which is about focusing on mainly our own issues. We need to be out there as public representatives where we govern properly and do things for the people.”
‘Not an election campaign’
While the campaign resembled an ANC getting into first gear for the elections before everyone else, Mbalula said: “It’s not an election campaign. We are doing what is right to be done. We get blamed that we are aloof and all of that, and yet there is too much emphasis on the squabbles about who must be removed and who mustn’t be removed, so we should be there. With this campaign, we want to resolve people’s issues.”
Mbalula said the ANC was giving practical expression to the president’s #ThumaMina pledge on what ANC members should be doing in the communities they live in.
“That’s what this campaign is all about,” he said.
“We are unveiling the volunteer programme that goes with the campaign, so, here in Gauteng, we are launching the Tata Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu volunteers. They are going to be focusing on the campaign.”
Elective conferences to go ahead
Meanwhile, Mbalula said the much fought about provincial elective conferences due to sit would not be disrupted by ongoing fights.
“Conferences are going ahead all round. The deadline we are working on is that all elective conferences must be done and dusted by July.”
Asked about the current litigation around the Free State conference, which is sitting this week despite warnings from disgruntled members, Mbalula said: “We are attending to it by engaging comrades to ensure that we unite them and so on. As we speak, national executive members are on the ground and we are engaging with the Free State comrades to resolve the issues.”
‘We don’t go to places were it’s all nice’
On the shack fire that started in Tswelopele informal settlement while Ramaphosa was in the area, Mbalula said: “That was anarchy. There is someone we caught red-handed with a petrol container. They burnt that shack basically to disrupt our going to that area. So that was done deliberately to disrupt us going there.
“They thought that we were only going to nice places and want to just showcase our work and all of that.
No, #ThumaMina is about fixing things, and that’s why we went there. They want us to be aloof; our enemies and our detractors want us to be aloof. We are there to fix people’s issues and that is what this campaign is all about. We don’t go to places were its all nice.”
Asked if the alleged arsonist belonged to a specific political party, Mbalula said: “No, he is a clown, a thug. So we still checking his political credentials, but that was deliberate ploy for disruption.”
Asked for timeliness when the issues raised by the people of Tswelopele will be resolved, Mbalula said electricity would be installed within the next two weeks.
Ramaphosa told residents he would personally make a call to Eskom to bring electricity to the area.
