Vote for ANC or… Mohlakeng residents threatened
"Vote for the ANC or your Government houses will be taken away."
The Herald was inundated with phone calls from residents of Mohlakeng on 7 March after they were allegedly threatened by ANC members doing a door-to-door membership drive ahead of the elections.
More than 30 residents of Mohlakeng Extention 4 called in to complaint about the treatment they received from ANC members.
The campaign was allegedly held on 6 March in Zwaneloop and Nokwe Streets.
According to one resident, the ANC members, instead of doing the normal party sales pitch, told them that if they do not vote for the ANC, they will lose their houses as it is the ANC who gave them the houses in the first place.
The national elections are scheduled to take place on 7 May.
“They demanded to know which political party we would be voting for in the election,” says the resident who wished not to be named for fear of being victimised.
“I refused to tell them and that is when they started threatening me.
“They said that the ANC fought for our freedom and should we not vote for them, they will make sure our homes are taken away from us.”
The Herald listened to the same story from caller after caller, all of whom refused to divulge their names or even contact details, and all of them stating that they will be victimised if they were to dare report the matter.
The Herald contacted West Rand District Municipality spokesperson and ANC elections representative within the West Rand Dennis Mangope who says that although the ANC wants to score votes, they are certainly not desperate enough to do this.
“People need to be aware that there is no way that we can intimidate them to vote for us.
“Yes we can approach them to persuade them to vote for the ANC but at no point do we have the right to force them.
“Those people who are allegedly doing this should be identified and reported to our offices so that we can take the correct action against them.
“Everyone has a right to keep their vote private unless they want to publicly declare it,” says Mangope.
He adds residents need to rest assured that no one will have their houses taken away from them owing to their preference to vote for a different political party.
“People were given houses as part of service delivery and this was never based on which political party they belong to.
“We can never discriminate against our people in such a way,” says Mangope.
Those who wish to report incidents of this nature are urged to contact the Regional Secretary of the ANC Sanele Ngweventja on 011 692 1856 or approach the West Rand District Municipality or the Randfontein Local Municipality offices.
Hoe kan die ANC vir mense huise gee en hul dan afpers deur dit weer terug te wil vat net omdat hul nie hul sin kry nie. Mense moet maar baie mooi dink voor hul vir so n onstandvastige en onbetroubare party stem.
As an active member of the African National Congress, a volunteer and committed member, I would like to say it clearly the ANC has never and shall never promote patronage or any kind of intimidation, however and more the ANC has deployed credible and tested volunteers who are intensively trained on our manifesto, these volunteers are also trained in telling the 20 year worth of good story to tell, they are also in the know of the challenges that continue to face our country and its government.
it is malicious of the newspaper reporter and or the newspaper to report on unfounded allegations that the ANC would desperately threaten its citizenry to vote it in to power in the forth coming elections.
The ANC has since 1994 been voted by the citizens of South Africa and Mohlakeng has forever been the strongest hold of ANC in Randfontein, we are well aware of Randfontein Herald that continues to pursue and agenda to discredit any good work done by the ANC particular in Randfontein and Westonaria, we take also cognizance of the paper playing political ploy and been openly allies of the Democratic Alliance.
Herald has continued to be an Afrikaner opinionated newspaper and thus it will ensure the hegemony of white liberal and Afrikaner philosophy to be advocated for in our communities.
The ANC remain committed to the constitutional rights of every citizen including those that were rightfully afforded houses, we are prepared in defending the gains of our democracy and freedom regardless of our position in government.
Although we are confident through realistic statistic that communities of Mohlakeng in particular and Randfontein in general still have believe in the African National Congress and applaud its achievements, we are not blindfolded by these achievements we know that we still have a lot to do together with our communities. thus the ANC confidently makes a clarion call to together moving South Africa Forward.
i will vote for anc because i black