ANC and DA spat over Alexandra continues

The ANC in Gauteng says the DA in the province should not hide behind it for its failure to respond to the plight of residents of Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg.

Earlier, Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng Premier Candidate Solly Msimanga called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to account to the residents of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, on the poor state of the township.

Msimanga’s call follows protests over land grabs, the mushrooming of illegal structures and a lack of service delivery in the area.

He has laid criminal charges against the African National Congress (ANC) for allegedly inciting violence, saying they are the ones that fuelled the protests.

At the Alex Police Station to lay criminal charges of incitement of violence against the ANC.

The violent & destructive action that took place in Alex was not a service delivery protest but rather criminal chaos, which is being carefully coordinated by the ANC & its affiliates. pic.twitter.com/TWX1wnHVCm

— Solly Msimanga (@SollyMsimanga) April 7, 2019

Residents of the area have been protesting since last week over service delivery and plan to march to Sandton on Monday.

They have also called on Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba to address them.

However, Mashaba has pointed the finger at the ANC saying it has failed to deliver basic services to the area since 1994.

The ANC has responded to the claims.

Gauteng ANC Deputy Chairperson, Panyaza Lesufi, says, “We really feel that it undermines the people of Alexandra. The people of Alexandra have requested the DA to come to Alexandra, not to go to a police station. It’s to undermine the integrity, the intellectual understanding of the people of Alexandra, to accuse the ANC that it’s the one that’s inciting that. People are demanding basic things. So, we’re urging the DA to really leave the ANC out of this thing and confront, as the government of the day there in Johannesburg, the issues that have been raised by the people of Alexandra.”

Msimanga says the DA wants to meet with the community, but the ANC-led government needs to provide answers to them.

He says, “We also now want to ask the President to come and account with David Makhura as the Premier, with ex-mayor, Ntate Parks Tau to come and account for the R1 billion that was supposed to be used for the Alexandra urban renewal programme. What happened to that money?”