Mbeki kicks off ANC campaign under pressure to deliver on promises

CAPE TOWN – The African National Congress launched its campaign yesterday for local government elections, promising to do more to tackle poverty and corruption and make good on promises to improve the lot of South Africans disadvantaged from decades of apartheid.

President Thabo Mbeki delivered a keynote address – also timed to mark the ANC’s 94th birthday – at a stadium in Cape Town, where the ruling ANC is expected to face a tough challenge from the opposition Democratic Alliance for the municipal elections to be held March 1. “We are determined to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014, to provide the skills required by the economy, and ensure that all South Africans are fully able to enjoy the full dignity of freedom,” Mbeki told the crowd gathered in the Athlone stadium near the sprawling Cape Flats townships.At the last municipal elections in 2000, the ANC won 59 per cent of the vote, with the Democratic Alliance on 22 per cent and the rest split between smaller parties.At national elections in 2004, the ANC swept to an overwhelming 70 per cent majority.It is expected to win this time around given its support among the majority black community, although risks a backlash from people sick of poor service delivery.Nearly 12 years since multiracial democratic elections ushered the ANC into office, many South Africans have seen little improvement in their daily lives despite a record period of economic growth.Frustration has exploded into violent protests on numerous occasions in the past year.Official unemployment is at 27 per cent – although in reality believed to be much higher because of the number of people in the informal sector.Yet the country faces a crippling shortage of skilled workers and has to import qualified labour from abroad.The ANC election manifesto pledged that by 2010, when South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup, all households would have access to clean running water and decent sanitation, and that all houses would have access to electricity by 2012.Even though the government has spent nearly 30 billion rands to build about 1,8 million new homes since 1994, the number of households living in shacks rose from 1,45 million to 1,84 million – a 26 per cent increase.The country’s flagship Gateway housing project to replace the unsightly shacks along the N2 near Cape Town airport is fraught with political infighting, mismanagement and is hopelessly behind schedule.The manifesto also pledged to pool resources to build more roads, clinics and schools, especially in deprived areas.Mbeki also promised to make sure that elected local officials were more accountable to voters, and said the government would focus on municipalities where service delivery was particularly bad.”We will resolutely fight laziness, arrogance and corruption,” he said.There is mounting unhappiness at the inflated salaries of local government officials, and at the ANC’s apparent reticence to act against corrupt councillors.”The protests over poor delivery around the country last year have demonstrated that people are losing patience with ANC elitism and cronyism,” said the Democratic Alliance in a statement.”The local government election promises to be a very rude awakening for the ANC.”Added to the external pressures come the internal woes.The party has been divided since Mbeki sacked his popular – but corruption tainted – deputy, Jacob Zuma, last June.Zuma last month stepped down from his leadership duties as ANC deputy president pending the outcome of his trial, due to start in February, on charges that he raped a family friend.Zuma’s corruption trial starts in July and follows the conviction last year of his friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, for bribery and fraud.The judge in that case decided that the two men had a “generally corrupt” relationship.- Nampa-AP”We are determined to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014, to provide the skills required by the economy, and ensure that all South Africans are fully able to enjoy the full dignity of freedom,” Mbeki told the crowd gathered in the Athlone stadium near the sprawling Cape Flats townships.At the last municipal elections in 2000, the ANC won 59 per cent of the vote, with the Democratic Alliance on 22 per cent and the rest split between smaller parties.At national elections in 2004, the ANC swept to an overwhelming 70 per cent majority.It is expected to win this time around given its support among the majority black community, although risks a backlash from people sick of poor service delivery.Nearly 12 years since multiracial democratic elections ushered the ANC into office, many South Africans have seen little improvement in their daily lives despite a record period of economic growth.Frustration has exploded into violent protests on numerous occasions in the past year.Official unemployment is at 27 per cent – although in reality believed to be much higher because of the number of people in the informal sector.Yet the country faces a crippling shortage of skilled workers and has to import qualified labour from abroad.The ANC election manifesto pledged that by 2010, when South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup, all households would have access to clean running water and decent sanitation, and that all houses would have access to electricity by 2012.Even though the government has spent nearly 30 billion rands to build about 1,8 million new homes since 1994, the number of households living in shacks rose from 1,45 million to 1,84 million – a 26 per cent increase.The country’s flagship Gateway housing project to replace the unsightly shacks along the N2 near Cape Town airport is fraught with political infighting, mismanagement and is hopelessly behind schedule.The manifesto also pledged to pool resources to build more roads, clinics and schools, especially in deprived areas.Mbeki also promised to make sure that elected local officials were more accountable to voters, and said the government would focus on municipalities where service delivery was particularly bad.”We will resolutely fight laziness, arrogance and corruption,” he said.There is mounting unhappiness at the inflated salaries of local government officials, and at the ANC’s apparent reticence to act against corrupt councillors.”The protests over poor delivery around the country last year have demonstrated that people are losing patience with ANC elitism and cronyism,” said the Democratic Alliance in a statement.”The local government election promises to be a very rude awakening for the ANC.”Added to the external pressures come the internal woes.The party has been divided since Mbeki sacked his popular – but corruption tainted – deputy, Jacob Zuma, last June.Zuma last month stepped down from his leadership duties as ANC deputy president pending the outcome of his trial, due to start in February, on charges that he raped a family friend.Zuma’s corruption trial starts in July and follows the conviction last year of his friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, for bribery and fraud.The judge in that case decided that the two men had a “generally corrupt” relationship.- Nampa-AP