South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has attacked the Democratic Alliance for poor service delivery in Pretoria, saying the situation got worse after the main opposition party started running the capital in 2016.
Ramaphosa was speaking to the ruling African National Congress supporters Monday night at Church Square in downtown Pretoria to unveil his party’s electoral manifesto ahead of the municipal elections due to take place on 1 November.
Since the DA ousted his party from power in 2016, service delivery had deteriorated in the country’s administrative capital, the president charged.
He appealed to the supporters to elect his party to govern the country’s capital city since residents have been living under many hardships – citing little access to clean water, among other issues.
He admitted said that residents had decided against voting for the ANC for five years because they had been disappointed with how the party had earlier run the city, including the levels of corruption.
“As a result, a number of cities and towns, including Tshwane (Pretoria), have been governed by other parties for the past five years. This has caused great hardship for the residents of Tshwane,” Ramaphosa said.
According to Ramaphosa, Pretoria residents should give the ANC a chance to fix the problems in the city.
NM/jn/APA