An ANC march in Cape Town, but is Helen Zille listening?

By RA’EESA PATHER

Standing outside the Provincial Building in Wale Street, political campaigners handed their memorandum to the offices of Helen Zille. Their demands for land, service delivery and the betterment of the poor boomed through the streets of Cape Town.

ANC supporters had come out in droves to demand better sanitation and housing from the Western Cape government. Make no mistake though, this was as much a protest against the Democratic Alliance as it was a protest against poor service delivery. Shouts of “Down with Zille, down with the DA” swept through Cape Town’s CBD.

 

Randy PietersenRandy Pietersen, voluntary organiser for the ANC

“We are treated like refugees in our own country. Helen Zille treats us like refugees. If the youth don’t register, don’t get an ID and don’t participate, you have no right to complain.”

 

 

 

 

 

Khaya Yozi, Nyanga resident

“We are hoping to reveal to the Western Cape that for most people who live in the townships, the service delivery is not getting to their areas. I support the ANC because I love it. It addresses our needs as black people.”

 

Thandi Mamelehale, ANC supporter

“Helen Zille never listens to people. We know that she will never listen to us and not respond to our demands.”

Asiphe

 

Asiphe, student at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology

“I am a student. My education is for free. The ANC has done a lot for me.”

 

 

 

 

 

Barry Mitchell, SACP demonstrator

“We want to show the world and South Africa that the tripartite alliance is still going strong. The ANC and the SACP are liberation movements that brought us out of the darkness of apartheid. The alliance is still relevant and always will be.

Zukisani Sibunsi, ANC supporter

“We are just here, we are wasting our time because Helen Zille can’t listen to us. So we are here to represent the people of the Western Cape. The solution is to vote for the ANC, and kick Helen Zille out of the Western Cape office.”

 

 

Roscoe

 

Roscoe Jacobs

“I’m here to get the Premier of the Western Cape to listen to the voices of the poor and the working class, and that of young people like myself. As a young person I grew up in the ANC and I’ve been taught the values and the principles of the ANC, so I am never going to sell that out.”