Less empty slogans, more action, Ndileka Mandela tells ANC

Icon Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter Ndileka Mandela has lambasted the empty slogans and promises by the ANC government which, she says, has slapped the country with load shedding, killing many small businesses, including hers.

“We are tired of people being appointed in positions and not do anything in those positions. We want service delivery.

“As granddad said: ‘It doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it can catch mice.’ We don’t care whether it’s white or black or whatever colour in that position, as long as they can deliver and we can have service delivery,” Mandela said.

Mandela: ANC must do better

Mandela, a daughter of Nelson Mandela’s son, Thembekile, who died in a car accident in 1969, said: “The ruling party needs to do better. People are getting despondent, crime is on the rise due to unemployment. Load shedding is killing SMMEs slowly.”

She earlier endorsed the content of a letter written by her friend which she copied and shared on social media because it resonated with her. The unnamed author from the Eastern Cape praised the DA uMngeni municipality mayor, Chris Pappas, for good work and “being a gem in this country”.

WATCH: Ndileka Mandela speaks at Freedom Movement rally, urges ANC MPs to do the right thing

While the writer stressed that he was no fan of the DA and “pretty much don’t agree with anything DA”, he praised the 32-year-old mayor for doing great job.

“He is fast becoming the vision of a leadership that South Africa is desperately seeking, hungry for and deprived off in the modern South Africa,” the writer said.

He praised the timeous arrival of Pappas at the scene of a recent vehicle pile-up on the N3 near uMngeni, the personal role he played and human and material resources he deployed from his municipality, including Hilton Hall, to shelter the wounded. The crash claimed the lives of five people.

ALSO READ: Mandela sister begs Ndileka not to abandon ANC

“This young mayor stayed up all night until the road was cleared, every person was accounted for and everyone was safe. All this while no word from the leading ANC government and no sight from the leading ANC government,” the author wrote.

‘We are tired of nondelivery’

Mandela was impressed by the writer’s statements.

“What I can say is I did not author that article. I’m not one to shy away from something that I authored, nor will I take credit for something I did not write. However, I must state categorically that it does strike resonance with me – especially the last part of it – that we are tired of slogans, we are tired of marches, we are tired of nondelivery,” Mandela said.

ALSO READ: Residents forming civic movement to deal with poor service delivery

“Right now we are having stage 6 of load shedding, which affects SMMEs. SMMEs like mine are now having less productive hours because of load shedding.

“On Friday, we only had four hours of productivity with stage 6 load shedding. If you don’t have a generator you are dead in the water.

“This happens straight after Covid, when the economy was stagnant, and very few people can afford generators,” Mandela said.

Because they funded everything out of their own pockets, almost six hours of no production worsened their business losses.

The original author wrote: “uMngeni is such a warm communal municipality. Blacks and whites are becoming closer and more loving to each other (despite the fact that South Africa is a very racial country). Chris fosters the culture of love each other’, ‘work with each other’, ‘respect each other’ and ‘live well with each other’. And, my God, it’s actually working,” the author wrote.

It was starting to attract direct local and foreign investments because of the quality of service delivery. The municipality had become the most connected rural area in KwaZulu-Natal both with electricity and broadband.

ALSO READ: Gauteng’s glory days are over as many councils in ‘financial and service delivery crisis’

“uMngeni has become far safer in just over a year. Crime is declining fast. There are no potholes any more – not one pothole both in rural and the town. Awasuse wonke at a record of few months. They removed the potholes in a record few months,” the writer said.

– ericn@citizen.co.za