The Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal is outraged again by some of the ANC’s dirty campaign tactics for the upcoming by-elections in Nquthu where the governing party has embarked on what appears to be a state-sponsored vote-buying campaign.
“We have noted that once again the provincial cabinet will descend in Nquthu next week in an event orchestrated under the guise of service delivery. This follows yet another visit which took place on 8th March 2017 which was also orchestrated under the guise of service delivery. This raises more questions than answers on whether the cabinet failed to find pertinent matters facing Nquthu residents on its first visit. Now we are convinced that this is a blatant abuse of state resources yet again by the ANC and it reinforces our previous claims that the MEC of Cogta is hell-bent on ensuring that the ANC gains control of the Nquthu municipality,” said IFP Leader in the KZN Legislature, Mr Blessed Gwala.
“Now it is high time to call for a thorough investigation into these so called Imbizo’s because now it is clear that the ANC has turned the Operation Sukuma Sakhe into its machine to garner votes, not to deliver services to the people. We always question why members of the different political parties represented in the KZN Legislature are excluded from these so called Izimbizo’s if they are government events and not for the ANC only,” continued Mr Blessed Gwala.
“This is not surprising given that the ANC has, in previous elections, used the distribution of food parcels to try to manipulate poor communities into voting for it. The silence of Luthuli House in addressing the misuse of state resources by its leaders to pursue party political interests speaks volumes about the ethics of the ANC’s campaigning. If the ANC has to deliver services to the people they have to be delivered in an apolitical way, and not linked to any day of elections,” concluded Mr Gwala.
The IFP will pursue this matter by submitting writing questions in order to get suitable answers from the KZN Premier, Willies Mchunu about how much has been spent so far for these so called “Operation Sukuma Sakhe Events”? How local businesses has benefited from these so called events? We will continue to raise our concerns about the abuse of state resources by the ANC.
Issued by:
Mr Blessed Gwala MPL
IFP Leader in the KZN Legislature
078 290 5842