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DA takes campaign trail to Langa

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The DA has taken its election campaign to the Cape Town suburb of Langa. Party leader John Steenhuisen and mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis have urged people in the area to register to vote so that party councillor-elect Alfred Magwaca could take up their issues.

Steenhuisen says boycotting voting would not help to address their concerns. This as some residents have indicated that they will not be voting this year because of lack of service delivery.

KwaLanga is the oldest African township in Cape Town having been established in 1927. The ward councillor for Ward 51 was Zingisile Nkangana, who died in April and this is the first opportunity to find a replacement.

Some residents in the area have said they are not going to vote because their votes have not meant much in the past.

Steenhuisen says, however, that it is not true that all parties are the same.

“If that was the case why is (this) the only financially viable metro in the country? Why is there the highest level of service delivery? Why is there the lowest unemployment rate out of any metro? Why is service delivered here better than anywhere else? Why are there clean audits here? Also, not all political parties are the same. You’ve got to make sure if you want change you vote for a party that gets those things done.”

The party’s mayoral candidate for the City of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis addressed concerns that services are not provided to poor areas in the city.

“The objective truth on every measure is that Cape Town delivers the best services to the poor in the whole of SA. But there is also a very widely held perception that, that is not true. So, you’ve got to use the office of the mayor to address that perception and show people that actually you can have a better life in Cape Town, and you can have all the services that you need for dignity and this is part of our commitment in Cape Town.”

PAC President Mzwanele Nyhotso was also campaigning in KwaLanga. The PAC used to be very strong in the area with Phillip Kgosana famously leading the anti-pass laws march in 1960 that attracted over 30 000 people.

With its well-documented internal squabbles, the party has struggled to convince voters to choose it in elections over the years.

Nyhontso believes this can be changed.

“We’ve had our own challenges, but in the last few months, we’ve been reviving this organisation. And we’ve gone back to basics, telling people that we are the only hope for African people and that we have achieved because the PAC has a lot of support here. And we are going to use that support as the next launch-pad point for the next national elections. But we are sure that people are going to go out there to register to vote and then vote for the PAC. Because that vote, the PAC, would mean they vote for change and quality service delivery.”

LGE 2021 | John Steenhuisen leads DA’s campaign in Langa:

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