MAP16 UPBEAT AHEAD OF POLLS

By Masilo Malakwane

QWAQWA – Smaller political parties, civic organizations and community leaders vying for the November 1 Local Government polls have stepped up their campaign drives after SA’s largest political parties launched their respective election manifestos.

One of them, Map 16 Civic Movement, is confident of its prospects of prising the entire municipality from the ruling ANC. It launched its own manifesto at Phuthaditjhaba Stadium on Tuesday this week.

The organisation’s convenor, Paratlane Motloung, fired a broadside at the ANC quoting Nelson Mandela’s famed words: ‘if the ANC does what apartheid did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid’.

Motloung said the movement has great plans to tackle service delivery challenges such as power and water supplies, with its 10-point plan.

“We will normalize the reliability supply of electricity by, among others, closing of open meter boxes, increasing the number of vending stations in all wards and upgrading electricity network to keep up with the ever increasing load demand.

“Our 10-point plan will guide us to alleviate challenges of poor service delivery in the Maluti-A-Phofung municipality. The people have, for many years now, suffered the indignity of poor living conditions; lack of proper and sustainable basic services; corrupt, incapable, unaccountable and poor leadership. The suffering has been too long and it’s time to stop it and return our lives to normality. We must proudly reclaim and proclaim this municipality as ours, and loudly say ‘KE HABO RONA MONA (this is our home)’.”

Meanwhile, independent political analyst, Molefi Nyofane says the biggest challenge facing the community is that of having too many politicians and too few leaders.

“Any politician who claims they can solve Maluti-A-Phofung’s service delivery challenges needs to actually show true genuine leadership and ideals they live by. Map16’S plan is very clear and accurate and with its manifesto they safely stand a good chance of taking control of Maluti-A-Phofung.”

Nyofane added that political education is also needed among the people.

“For example, many people still believe that government grants such as the Sassa grant and Covid-19 Relief Fund belong to the ruling party, not knowing that it is a responsibility entrusted by the state. The ruling party’s failure to register 19 wards in Maluti -A- Phofung was a clear indication that the party’s internal problems are far from over,” said Nyofane.

The Map16 Civic Movement was launched in 2019 by 16 Maluti-A-Phofung councillors who were expelled from the ANC. They currently have 10 representatives in the Maluti-A-Phofung council and they will be contesting the local government elections for the first time.

There are 325  political parties registered with Independent Electoral Commission(IEC), to contest the coming November 1, 2021  Local Government Elections.