Various political parties are out in full swing to encourage eligible voters to register to vote in the upcoming 2019 general elections.
African National Congress Deputy President David Mabuza toured Mamelodi to encourage the general public and party members to participate in the IEC voter registration process.
Mamelodi residents and hostel dwellers surrounded Mabuza, who was distributing party T-shirts, during his voter registration campaign in the east of Pretoria.
Leader of the UDM General Bantu Holomisa has called on the electorate to vote wisely in the 2019 general elections.
Holomisa visited voter registration centres in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
“There is no doubt in everybody’s mind that South Africa must make sure that never again shall we put all of our eggs in one basket. The people in this country have seen funny things including that of syphoning the monies of South Africa illicitly outside of South Africa. Therefore, we need to make sure the voters this time around must be aware of those things.”
DA Western Cape leader, Bonginkosi Madikizela, has appealed to eligible voters to register to vote. He’s been visiting voter registration points in Fisantekraal and Wallacedene near Kraaifontein.
Madikizela says he’s disappointed at what looks like a poor response to the call to register.
“The focus is on all voters, but our biggest concern is that 75% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are not registered to vote. This is the future of South Africa and we’ve got to make sure that young people have an interest in politics and we need to deal with voter apathy in young people. If we have so many young people who are not registered, we should be making more effort as political parties.”
Mabuza first went to the Mamelodi hostel voter registration station, issuing people with party T-shirts until they ran out as the number of those asking for them continued to increase.
This led to his entourage retreating and driving to the next venue.
Mabuza says he has also listened and registered the people’s concerns during his visit.
“There is a big problem of human settlement. There are some people who are in informal settlements. They want service from the government and all that. They are raising issues of unemployment.”
After completing his brief visit to the local church as well as the inspection of the voter registration station tent inside the Life Giving Ministries, Mabuza repeated his statement that he’s considering approaching EFF leader Julius Malema and UDM leader Bantu Holomisa to request them to return to the ANC.
Trying to rekindle Malema to return to the ruling party fold, Mabuza had this to say.
“I have a special place in my heart for Julius. We had time together. He knows that. When he was in the ANC I supported him to be the president of the Youth League and I remember comrade Julius saying, ‘my blood is black, green and gold. I will never leave the ANC.’ And I want to remind him of those words. ‘My blood is black, green and gold. I will never leave the ANC.'”
Mabuza says the decision to fire and dismiss Malema and others is regrettable and is haunting the ANC.
“I feel that the ANC has lost in comrade Julius. The ANC will be better off with him inside the fold. So, I’m going to do my best to request him to reconsider coming back home.”
However, Mabuza says he was happy with the progress at local voter registration stations.
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