As ANC campaigns in Soweto, some residents say they're not buying into any party's promises

SOWETO - As election campaigns heat up, residents in Soweto said that some political manifestos did not speak to the lived experience of ordinary South Africans.

African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa was in Soweto on Saturday, where led the party in a door-to-door voter registration campaign. 

Ramaphosa, like several party leaders, will be on the charm offensive to appease the electorate as the country heads to the polls.

"There is no other party that we're going to go with. Today, we're educated because of the ANC. We'll go ahead with the ANC."

The ANC president received a warm welcome as he arrived in Protea on Saturday.

Some residents, who stood on the sidelines, said that they were not buying into any political party’s campaign efforts as many of their issues had put them on the back foot.

"I believe the forgotten manifesto is the youth. In Soweto, there are a lot of youth who have this entitlement that they deserve one, two, three without working for it," one resident said.

"What political parties are forgetting are issues pertaining to middle-income households where they bear the brunt of the incompetencies of government," another resident said.

With Gauteng making up 25% of the national vote, residents say they believe many issues, including free quality education, mental health and the real effects of climate change, have all formed part of what they’ve labelled as the forgotten manifesto.