ANC supporters march in Cape Town, demand safer, more affordable city

Hundreds of ANC supporters from the Dullah Omar constituency marched through the Cape Town city centre on Friday afternoon, demanding a safer, more affordable city and better job opportunities for all residents.

The demonstrators initially converged at the civic centre to hand over a memorandum of demands to Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

Their core grievances and demands include affordable electricity, with protesters alleging that Cape Town has the highest electricity prices on the continent - they are demanding that the city provide 200kW of free electricity for poor households; transport subsidies - a call was made for the municipal subsidisation of minibus taxis; cheaper food - the ANC constituency is demanding the establishment of a municipal wholesaler to sell food items at reduced rates to local spaza shops and other small businesses; improved safety - The marchers are calling for the immediate implementation of the anti-gang strategy recently presented by Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia. They highlighted the city’s grim reputation as being the "murder capital of the country."

After delivering their demands to the city, the demonstrators headed towards Parliament, where they plan to further voice their concerns on issues affecting the metro and the province.