ANC chair booed off stage ahead of Ramaphosa address

A crowd in Phase Six, an informal settlement in Bloemfontein, booed ANC Free State chairperson Sam Mashinini off stage during the Bloemfontein leg of the Thuma Mina (send me) events yesterday, reports OFM.

This forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to take the podium earlier than expected. Rumblings by the community during Ramaphosa’s address suggested they were unhappy with ANC structures in the province.

As Ramaphosa told the crowd of his plan to oust corruption at national, provincial and local level, the crowd indicated they did not believe him and bluntly told him their experience with corrupt local officials had taught them that where there’s money for projects, there will be corruption, leaving residents on the back foot of receiving quality service delivery.

The residents also said they were not happy with councillors in the area, saying it was good Ramaphosa brought Mashinini and premier Sisi Ntombela to the event, as they had planned to march to her Bloemfontein office to complain about the lack of service delivery in their area.

The Phase Six community was probably the most vocal and rowdy of those Ramaphosa addressed during yesterday’s visit in Mangaung. Ramaphosa told the audience he was doing everything he could to address the plight of the people and had tasked Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize with helping the Mangaung Metro to fix issues that crippled its ability to deliver services.

One of the announcements by Ramaphosa was that renovations at the Opkoms Clinic in Heidedal, Bloemfontein, would create more than 100 jobs for youth and other members of the community. He said renovation would begin as early as today as a contractor had already been appointed.

The contractor was encouraged to use locals in the project. Ramaphosa did not comment on the duration of the renovations or the cost.

• news@citizen.co.za

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