ANC turns its focus on the Western Cape in an attempt to woo voters
In 2019, the ANC mustered only 28 percent of the vote in the province it lost control over in 2009.
Delegates at the ANC's 55th national elective conference on 17 December 2022. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - As the country marks thirty years of democracy, African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula is set to lead an election campaign in the only province the party does not govern.
Mbalula will be going door-to-door in Cape Town’s biggest township of Khayelitsha, still an ANC stronghold, in the Democratic Alliance (DA)-run city.
But its provincial spokesperson and member of the provincial legislature, Khalid Sayed, said the party is not only focussing on the city’s downtrodden areas in this election campaign.
In 2019, the ANC mustered only 28 percent of the vote in the province it lost control over in 2009.
Sayed said with the party having sorted out its internal battles, its focus is more than just about sharing its manifesto offering.
"So, when we are doing our door-to-door, when we are engaging, we are listening to people’s solutions. people are giving us solutions around health care, education, around boosting the township economy."
He said that the ANC's provincial leadership is working hard to entice the city’s middle-class to support its campaign of inclusivity.
"The message of the ANC building an inclusive Western cape resonates in the main with people in the township areas because they feel the wrath of the DA’s agenda of building a tale of two cities."
Sayed added that support for the ANC in the province has also shifted since government launched a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.