That ANC is not involved in local war for votes says everything about them

There is an old saying that, in a war, there are no winners. Well, I tend to disagree. Here on the West Rand where I live, a very fierce and intense war is being raged. And in this war, all the residents are on the winning side.

The war I am talking about is between the different political parties who are working tirelessly to garner votes ahead of next year’s general election.

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For very obvious reasons, most of the political parties have decided to make potholes, grass-cutting, refuse removal, and other basic services the battlefield where they are trying to outdo their rivals. And I am loving it.

Every day I see pictures posted on social media of councillors, residents and party supporters fixing potholes, cleaning up cemeteries, and so on. Even the mayor himself here in Mogale City dons an overall every now and then to clean up a park, prune a tree, or sweep a street.

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Some councillors even go so far as to harness their children and other family members to help them provide the services which are the responsibility of the council. The actions of one party are inevitably followed up by another.

The Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus and even the Economic Freedom Fighters are fixated on fixing the broken, maintaining infrastructure and, at the same time, posting their every action on social media.

IMHO – I believe that’s an acronym for “in my humble opinion”, which often accompanies social media posts about the state of affairs at the front lines – this is a very good thing.

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Instead of counting the dead, wounded and territory gained or lost as happens in a traditional war, here every party counts their likes, shares and followers. This is a war I believe we must all support.

Fact is, while the generals make the strategic decisions, the fighting is inevitably done by foot soldiers. And everyone who believes that this war must be won has a moral obligation to volunteer. The fact that the ANC is not involved in this war says everything about them.