ANC aims to win by-elections in Mogalakwena
THE contest for political control of the 13 wards in the Mogalakwena by-elections is heating up, with the ANC ready to contest all 13 wards, the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) ready to contest 10 of the wards, and the DA not about to contest any.
MOKOPANE – THE contest for political control of the 13 wards in the Mogalakwena by-elections is heating up, with the ANC ready to contest all 13 wards, the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) ready to contest 10 of the wards, and the DA not about to contest any.
Voters will cast their votes next Wednesday.
In the meantime, ANC provincial chairperson, Stanley Mathabatha has lead the ANC’s campaigns in the Bakenberg area. He also interacted with leaders of faith-based organisations, community development workers, chiefs, headmen and other ANC branches.
Speaking on behalf of the ANC Limpopo, Phuti Lekganyane, said Mathabatha’s visit to Bakenberg was part of re-engineering the ANC’s electoral machinery for the by-elections.
EFF Limpopo leader Mike Mathebe said the ANC was feeling the heat in Mogalakwena. “Mathabatha was not campaigning, he was just dishing out T-shirts.
“We are testing our election machinery as we did during the University of Limpopo student representative council election, and we won.
We are telling people the truth. Now the people around Mogalakwena are rallying behind us,” Mathebe said.
DA Limpopo leader, Jacques Smalle said political parties did not just contest by-elections.
“One must look at the history of the area, the footprint of the DA in that area, the candidate, and the financial situation. That area is predominately ANC. There is a lot of litigation in that area. The expelled ANC councillors took the matter to court and the outcomes of the court will come back soon. By-elections are not like normal elections. We are not contesting,” Smalle said.
Independent Election Campaign (IEC) spokesperson, Chris Ramafolo, said of the 13 wards affected by the by-elections, two wards, namely ward 13 and 17, would no longer have by-elections as they were contested by the ANC only.
“Six political parties; the ANC, African People’s Convention (APC), Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo), Congress of the People (Cope), EFF and United Democratic Movement (UDM) have shown interest to contest the by-elections in 11 wards.
The ANC will contest all 13 wards, the EFF will contest 10, the APC three, Azapo two, Cope four and UDM one, Ramafolo said.
