The ANC says it is upbeat about the August 3 elections and wants to capture all seven Endumeni wards.
Presently, the party holds five of the six wards but the IEC has added another ward to Endumeni.
In a statement, Thulani Mahaye, who is the ANC’s Inkosi Bamabatha regional head of communications, said volunteers have been out in force campaigning in Glencoe.
“The ANC had a large contingent of volunteers for Ward 3, Sithembile and Ward 7, Glencoe town. The freezing weather did not deter our enthusiasm. Such is the love for the movement and the ANC is grateful to all these comrades for moving the revolutionary movement forward and advancing service delivery to new levels.”
He described Sithembile residents as ‘being very excited to vote ANC in large numbers even though there are a small group of people from that community who want to destabilise the community by peddling lies about the ANC.’
“Despite all this misinformation, the people whom we visited were very upbeat and excited to vote ANC and many expressed their views openly about the ANC retaining councillor, Lungile Mbele, as our candidate. Our councillors must follow the manifesto of the ANC very strictly. That is the mandate and councillors who do not implement the mandate around the country will be dealt with by the ANC in terms of the organisations own internal processes.
“So having reached out to a large section of the community we feel satisfied that we can win this ward once again. Our people out there have genuine concerns.”
Mr Mahaye said the ANC was ‘also overwhelmed by the response in the Glenridge area of Ward 7. “Yes, there are challenges as many people did comment on the slow pace of service delivery in that area. The ANC leadership took collective responsibility for these challenges and refused to blame the previous councillor as an individual.
“The ANC made certain mistakes and having listened to the people first hand we undertake to make certain that these mistakes do not repeat itself. No political party can claim to be perfect. In a briefing which was held after the door-to-door campaign with ANC volunteer staff, the leadership listened attentively to so many concerns from volunteers relating to the choice of candidate.
“Under the able guidance of the Regional Secretary, Bheki Lembede, who was assisted by the Regional Chairperson and District Municipality Mayor, Lindokhule Ngubane supporters were taken through the dynamics of arriving at the decision.”