As the country waits for the declaration of election results this evening, some in Pretoria, the capital of the country, expressed mixed reactions to the outcome. With the majority of the votes counted, there will be no outright winner yet again.
The ANC is likely to come out tops, ahead of the DA, which governed the city for the past five years under a coalition. The ANC must however enter into a coalition in order to govern.
62-year-old Welhiminah Tleyane from Mabopane, says she’s pleased with how things have turned out in the Metro. She’s optimistic the incoming crop of councillors will speed up service delivery in the area.
“We are hopeful but I don’t know how much the new councilor will do for us. We shall wait and see. There are no developments, we only have gravel roads. There are no services at all. We struggle with water. There are no tarred roads. Since they stopped that other site. As for our section, we are still waiting.”
But for some, the outcome does not matter. This young man is one of many South Africans who chose to stay away from the polls on Monday.
“If you can look at the percentage of the youths who are not working and they are giving us R350. As a father how do you look after your children with that? Our government is only available to us when they want our votes. And they then tell us we will build houses and create jobs for you. During the year we don’t see them. The government is doing nothing that we can see.”
VIDEO | Community expectations from new Tshwane Metro leadership:
Meanwhile, political parties remain optimistic. The DA believes it has done enough to fight to retain its position is as the governing party. The party ran the city through a rocky coalition government which saw the dissolving of the council and the city placed under administration. Spokesperson, Siviwe Gwarube.
“The DA ran a strong campaign in the City of Tshwane under very difficult circumstances especially considering how the ANC tried to use every trick in the book to regain power in the city by placing the city under administration and plunging it into debt once again. We are of the belief that the people of Tshwane did come out and a number of them have placed their faith in the Democratic Alliance.”
While the new kid on the block, Action SA says it is pleased with how it has fared in the capital. The party is now the fourth biggest in the metro, after the ANC, DA, and the EFF.
SABC reporter Ofentse Setimo speaks to people at Marabastad in Tshwane:
