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Johannesburg - The Congress of the People's president, Mosiuoa Lekota, says the country needs to stop rewarding the African National Congress for fighting for the country’s liberation. Voters needed to start voting based on the future.
"We can’t continue to vote for history, but we need to start voting for our future," Lekota said while campaigning in Sharpeville on Friday.
"Many of us went to exile and prison, but people can’t continue to vote for party leaders simply because they went to prison."
Lekota and a small group of party members spent the day campaigning in Sharpeville and speaking to residents about some of the challenges they faced. He visited a squatter camp that did not have water or electricity.
"These people have been here for years and they have been pleading for proper accommodation, in terms of land zoned for residence. They have been told the land is zoned for sports facilities, but they have been promised over and over for land.
“We wanted to say to them that every time there is an election, it is an opportunity to decide whether they are happy with the manner in which their affairs are being managed," he said.
While trying to convince Sarah Mogari to vote for his party, she told him how politicians always turn their backs on them.
New party
"We will vote for you, then you get yourself a 4X4 bakkie and we won’t be able to approach you with our problems. We have been told for a long time that they would move us from here, but nothing has happened," she said.
Lekota appealed to the residents to change their votes and to ensure a new party came into power, to see if there would be a difference in their lives. He added that the current ruling party had moved away from the principles of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
"Since the inception of democracy, there has only been one party in charge. Change that to see if things won’t get better. When we started under President Mandela, there was a focus on changing people’s lives. When this current administration came in, there was a shift in what would be done for people to financial shifting of the pockets," said Lekota.
He said his party was the only one that cared about changing and improving the lives of South Africans.
- Find everything you need to know about the 2016 Local Government Elections at our News24 Elections site, including the latest news and detailed, interactive maps for how South Africa has voted over the past 3 elections, or download the app for iOS and Android.
