‘There’s been an improvement’: Oscar Mabuyane slams ‘lazy people’ for citing dismal service delivery
With South Africa now poised for its 7th general elections, the Eastern Cape premier sat down with Eyewitness News to discuss service delivery, as well as his party’s election fortunes.
Pupils are forced to completely immerse themselves in the river in order to get to school. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/Eyewitness News
EAST LONDON - Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has dismissed criticisms of the African National Congress’ (ANC) running of the province, saying people don’t just vote “blindly” for the party.
Mabuyane also promised another ANC election victory despite a lack of service delivery, saying opposition parties were “desperate” when it came to the province.
He said people of the Eastern Cape have refused to be what he calls “useful idiots” as opposition parties try to break the ANC’s majority in one the party’s biggest provinces.
With South Africa now poised for its 7th general elections, Mabuyane sat down with Eyewitness News to discuss delivery, as well as his party’s election fortunes.
PEOPLE’S LIVES HAVE IMPROVED
Mabuyane said those who accused people of voting blindly for the ANC in the province were simply “ignorant”.
He said data over the years pointed to an improvement in terms of services to the majority.
This is despite the Eastern Cape being in the spotlight when it came to corruption and poor services, where some communities must cross rivers just to reach schools and their jobs.
“No one is voting blindly. You know those are just simply ignorant, people who say people are voting blindly. Also, they are lazy people, are lazy thinkers, are lazy readers who don’t want to use statistics to enrich their argument.”
Mabuyane told Eyewitness News that water challenges were being addressed through various projects.
This was just one of the problems highlighted in the Public Protector's report on the Eastern Cape, released last year.
"Any reports from institutions like the Public Protector that seeks to highlight these weaknesses is a report that can't be taken for granted. We have plans in place, municipality by municipality. But the context of this - most of our areas in the Eastern Cape never had something called a municipality. Municipalities used to be something in urban areas.”
Mabuyane, who is also ANC provincial chairperson, says there are census reports that point towards an improvement in people’s lives.
“On a decade to decade [basis], there’s been an improvement. We’re the third province in the latest quarterly labour survey on GDP figures that was above the national average.”
He said the province also reduced its unemployment, achieved clean audits, and for the past three years, matric results continued to improve.
But Mabuyane said while surprises could happen, he did not see the ANC dropping below 50% at the polls in the province.