A month after its coalition took power, ANC in Tshwane marches against service delivery

Thousands of residents are expected to march to the City of Tshwane’s offices and Council Chamber on Friday to demand service delivery in the municipality.

 African National Congress (ANC) Greater Tshwane Regional Secretary George Matjila told The Citizen that Friday’s march, Walking with the People Walk, to Tshwane House was going ahead as planned, despite fake posters suggesting it had been postponed.

He labelled the misinformation as sabotage.

Why are they marching?

Among those planning to attend are ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, Youth League President Collen Malatji, and former Tshwane mayor Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

Matjila said the aim of Walking with the People’s Walk was to unite citizens in their aim for social justice, economic equity, and service delivery.

Is the ANC marching against itself?

The ANC recently teamed up with ActionSA to vote out the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Cilliers Brink as mayor, electing ActionSA’s Dr Nasiphi Moya in his place.

Matjila claimed residents were “excited about the new administration in the city” and government should now serve the people.

“This march is not bluffing or playing, we are raising issues that have been raised before, we are going to the streets and they must know if they don’t deliver, we are coming back for them,” he added.

“We have successfully dethroned the DA-led coalition and replaced it with the government of local unity (GLU) which consists of multiple parties.

“The fact that the ANC is part of the GLU does not change the people’s problems, that’s why we are calling on the newly established administration to look at those matters and to call on the national government to intervene,” he said.

What are the big issues they are marching against?

Matjila said among the service delivery issues in the city were housing, water, waste removal and cleaning up townships.

“There is no time to picnic and say ‘it’s our time to eat’, the focus should be to focus on solving the problems of our people.

“Our townships are extremely dirty. We will not postpone the cleaning of the township any longer because now it is led by a government, we are part of.

“No, we are very serious about these things,” he said.