Cape Town - Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane and ANC chairperson of that province has been roped in to bolster the party’s floundering campaign in the Western Cape.
Riven by factionalism, and indecisiveness over whether it should announce a premier candidate, IOL reported on Friday that an internal ANC canvassing report showed that across several districts in the Dullah Omar (Cape Metro) region, the party’s volunteers had failed to meet its canvassing targets.
To shore up support, Mabuyane headlined a rally yesterday in Khayelitsha alongside ANC provincial chairperson Vuyiso “JJ” Tyhalisisu.
Mabuyane’s foray into the Western Cape is unprecedented for the ANC provincial leader, as usually the party’s national executive committee deploys its senior members to campaign in regions, and no provincial leader has been deployed to campaign in another province.
The ANC’s move to rope in Mabuyane was, according to party sources, seen as an attempt to lure Xhosa-speaking voters, who had become disengaged from the party’s campaigning in the Western Cape. This comes as the EFF, DA, UDM, PMC, and others seek to eat into the ANC’s traditional township constituencies.
ANC provincial spokesperson Khalid Sayed disputed these claims, saying ANC deployees go wherever they are assigned to and that the Eastern and Western Cape are neighbours, and this was done in a spirit of comradeship.
“The ANC deployed its senior members across every province. We all work together; there’s no special case. Mabuyane is a member of the party, and we view that as such,” said Sayed.
According to the ANC canvassing report, the party shows little to no penetration in door-to-door operations in the Western Cape after many of its leaders visited the province, including the party’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The report states that in the entirety of the Western Cape, only 26.4% of the canvassing targets have been met. This is consistently low across all regions.
Stellenbosch University political analyst Zwelinzima Ndevu said the presence of Mabuyane in the Western Cape was a no-confidence vote in the leadership of Tyhalisisu…
“There are clear signs that the the ANC doesn’t have trust in him or he doesn’t command the respect of the members internal and external. This is evident with the campaign by the chairperson of another province this weekend,” said Ndevu.
Cape Argus