‘I want to put posters of the ANC up in Orania’ – Lesufi

ANC provincial chair Panyaza Lesufi has declared war on those who plan to prevent the ruling party from campaigning in their areas.

Nothing would stop the ANC from campaigning – and it would even put up posters in Orania, a town built on private land for Afrikaners in the Northern Cape, he said.

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“We are ready for them. We will never allow to be sidelined as the ANC. As much as any other person who want to campaign in our communities, we will allow them. We also deserve the right to campaign in our communities,” he said.

“I want to personally go put posters of the ANC up in Orania. There is no-one that can claim we can’t campaign in Orania. There is no place the ANC cannot campaign as long as that place is in our country.”

The ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) in the past two days held a Lekgotla in Boksburg to map out their plan of action for the year ahead and to deliberate on their election strategy.

Lesufi said it was important that all institutions that governed and supervised elections be respected by all parties.

“We want to reject this notion that if the ANC wins the elections, it means elections are bought.

“We know previously we have been insulted for winning elections,” he said.

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Previous general elections results saw the ANC in Gauteng garner 50.19% of the support base in 2019.

Amid growing displeasure with state of the nation and the loss of three metros in the province, the party still believed it would win the support of the province in this year’s elections.

Lesufi said the ANC was ready to defend the province in Gauteng.

He said the ruling party wanted to win Gauteng without any form of “coalition and factionalism”. “We are entering a crucial stage where we will defend the ANC in our province.

We will win Gauteng alone and we will govern this province alone,” he said. Of his party’s prospects in the province, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently said the ANC would acquire more than 50% there.

“This province is the home of the ANC. As I have been going around, people have been saying they belong to the ANC. We are confident.

“I can feel the pulse of the people and I can smell it. Whether people like it or not, the ANC is going to come back with a bang,” he said.

However, polls were suggesting otherwise. Current polls placed the ANC support below 50%, but the party indicated its internal surveys saw support above 50% and the party would ultimately win the upcoming election with an outright majority.

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Political analyst Levy Ndou said the ANC in Gauteng had to fight much harder to acquire the same number of votes they got in the previous elections.

“However, the ANC did not lose majority outright in metros. It still had the majority in Gauteng. It is just that they could not get a 50 plus,” he said.

According to Ndou, the ANC was aware there were people who did not go out to vote in the previous elections but maintained those people were their members.

“What therefore would be their challenge is to convince those people to come back and vote for them.

They should also know why some people did not vote because that could be the most important reason.”