David Makhura: ‘Opposition parties can't run Gauteng metros’
Gauteng metros would see transformation coming to a halt and reversal of gains made by the ANC should opposition parties win municipalities in the August 3 local government elections.
That is according to Gauteng Premier David Makhura said on Monday.
“The day it happens for those ones who are undecided about serious matters like transformation, the same ones who one day say they are against it and then turn and agree with transformation the next day… if they run these key cities…and the young guys who destroy everything even when they are in charge..imagine seeing cities run by them…you will go back home to the rural areas I tell you.
“I come from a village in Limpopo, I will be banished back to my village,” Makhura told the audience, taking a swipe at the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
He said the Gauteng government worked hard to make the province a better place to live in.
“So how do we defend what we have achieved so far? It’s not by handing over your future to people who either have no idea of what running a city is like, or what they would do with a city if they were to be given a responsibility to govern. The ANC has its own errors, but we have done a lot,” he said to a round applause from the audience.
Makhura said opposition party leaders told him, away from press conferences, that the ANC ran Gauteng very well, and they would not find it easy to win the municipalities.
“They say it will be very hard to win these areas because the ANC is doing a good job…I won’t name them, but they do tell me. They even reveal that [DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate] Herman Mashaba can’t even run the DA caucus. Running a caucus is not the same as running Black Like Me,” Makhura said to loud cheers.
He praised the three metro mayors in Gauteng, and said they were doing a good job.
“Whether Kgosientsho Ramokgopa [Tshwane] or Mondli Gungubele [Ekurhuleni] and Parks Tau [Joburg] will still be mayors or not, does not matter. It is not about people. They are doing a great job. We are running the country’s mega cities, and together with these comrades, you can continue to entrust us with the responsibility to transformation our country.”
Makhura was accompanied by Johannesburg mayor Tau and both addressed the provincial ANC’s dialogue with its professionals and academics.
The ruling party is facing its toughest local government elections test yet on August 3, as opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) make inroads to garner support in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
The ruling party’s support in the country’s economic hub dropped in the 2014 general elections, where it received 53.59 percent of the vote, compared to 64.04 percent it got in the 2009 elections.