ANC promises to revisit unhappy supporters
2011-05-20 08:28
Pretoria - The ANC promises to visit areas with service delivery problems when the elections are over, even though campaigning is done, said Gauteng ANC chairperson Paul Mashatile.
Watching results flood into the IEC centre in Pretoria on Thursday, he said: "We will revisit by conducting Imbizos in these areas...It will definitely happen."
Mashatile was relishing the fact that the DA had not won a single ward by "going for the black vote".
He said the party promised to intensify visits to areas on a regular basis after finding out that people were "sad" and "unhappy" with the ANC.
"The [general] attitude wasn't bad, but you can feel the unhappiness," Mashatile said.
After recent campaigns, President Jacob Zuma said in media reports that he did not blame people protesting over service delivery.
Mashatile, while saying that in some protests "people go to the extreme" and "stir trouble", he also felt that they could not to be blamed for doing so.
He said votes were still garnered from disgruntled residents in Zandspruit - which was engulfed in recent service delivery protests - because the ANC had intervened and spoke to people.
"They said, 'we will give you another chance'.
"It shows that if we listen, visit, and talk to them, they will change their attitudes," Mashatile said.
it was "very important" for the ANC to listen to the people in townships, as it had to consolidate the black vote.
In Johannesburg, the ANC was doing very well, he said, with a 100% vote from townships like Soweto, Zandspruit and Diepsloot.
"There has been no panic [regarding their vote]," Mashatile said.
Councillors would also be monitored to check that they were doing their jobs.
"We must monitor everything."
- SAPA
