ANC ‘well-prepared’ and will win elections ‘convincingly’

The ANC will win this election convincingly, according to its Gauteng secretary, TK Nciza, who was visiting polling stations and meeting volunteers and supporters yesterday.

“I am confident and there’s a difference between confidence and excitement,” he said, adding his party is well-prepared and supporters will be out in full force to cast their ballots.

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“I think people are going to come out in numbers because we need a stable country. And through the ANC – and only through the ANC – we can continue to have stability.”

Nciza dismissed opinion polls and analysts suggesting the ANC might dip below 50% of the vote.

“It’s the media who’s saying this, but there is no truth in it, we will come out strongly [sic],” he added.

He credited the ANC with maintaining South Africa’s course since the end of apartheid, cautioning against the unpredictability of coalition governments, a likely outcome if polls and pundits called it right.

He cited the Tshwane municipality – presently managed by Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor Cilliers Brink – as a glaring example of coalitions gone sour.

“When we have coalitions in cities like Tshwane, it’s is a mess and that’s the DA right there in the thick of it. They’ve been running it for the past seven years and it’s in shambles,” he said.

Corruption remains one of the biggest issues facing the country and opposition parties point many fingers in Nciza’s party’s direction.

But like in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Sunday, Nciza also claimed the moral high ground on corruption.

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Nciza said the ANC was the only party that had made any dent in combating corruption by asking implicated persons to step aside and relinquish their positions.

Yet he would not comment when The Citizen asked about the lack of prosecution, to date, of persons from the ruling party identified in the Zondo commission, among others, as purportedly corrupt.

These include former ANC treasurer-general and health minister Zweli Mkhize, who is presently on the party campaign trail, despite allegations of a questionable relationship with company Digital Vibes during the Covid pandemic.

A voter interrupted the conversation and approached Nciza. “Viva ANC,” she said. “But I want a job and I want land.”

Nciza said she was well within her rights to want it and only by voting ANC could this come to pass.

“Not only government can end crime or unemployment, but it needs the whole society to work together so we can work against issues of crime,” he said, adding people will continue to vote ANC “because it has done so much but, of course, needs to do more”.

He warned: “The ANC has good political authority in this country. We must be careful of what you wish for when it comes to coalitions, because you will get an unstable country.

“There’s no organisation that will go above the ANC. Come the 29th, there’s none. Not even one party.”