http://www.capetimes.co.za/da-can-snatch-mandela-bay-from-anc-zille-1.1070230
DA can snatch Mandela Bay from ANC: Zille May 17 2011 at 05:17pm By Stuart Graham Independent Newspapers The DA can win Nelson Mandela Bay from the ANC in the local government elections, party leader Helen Zille said as she wrapped up campaigning in townships around the metro. Photo: Independent Newspapers The DA can win Nelson Mandela Bay from the ANC in the local government elections, party leader Helen Zille said as she wrapped up campaigning in townships around the metro on Tuesday afternoon. "I have been here five times and there is a chance we can win it if our supporters come out and vote," Zille said after speaking to the party faithful in the Stamati Valley area outside Port Elizabeth. "It will all boil down to who comes out and votes tomorrow." Zille said the DA had been "scientific" in its approach to the elections and in deciding which areas to focus its campaigning on. "We look at the numbers very carefully. We monitor the movements on a chart. Mandela Bay is down to the wire." Zille said she had seen "the meaning of poor service delivery" as she toured the townships around the city on a double decker campaign bus on Tuesday morning. "I've seen what poor delivery means in practice. Looking from the bus today it was quite obvious." Piles of rubbish lined the sides of the streets on much of the route the DA bus passed through. Many of the roads were dotted with potholes. "We would obviously love to win another metro and show people what difference the DA can make to their lives." Zille started her tour in the mainly coloured suburb of Helenvale, where she was greeted by supporters waving DA flags and families who rushed to their gates to wave to her as the party's motorcade drove by. The bus was mobbed by DA supporters as it drove though Missionvale, a township of shacks and RDP houses. "When you go to vote tomorrow, listen to your heart and your heart is going to say DA," Zille said in an impromptu stop outside a shop in Kleinskool. People living in the area said they were tired of not having basic services like water and electricity. Davidene Fortuin, 18, said she was looking forward to voting in her first election. "I'm voting for Zille. I trust her. We don't have things like electricity and running water. "I live in a shack with my family. We need someone like her to help us. I don't like politicians, but Zille is different." Appels Phiri, 19, said she was tired of seeing her family "sukkeling" (battling). Whoever I vote for tomorrow, they must make a difference. They must fix things," she said. Crowds waving ANC flags and dancing and singing converged on the DA bus at each of its stops. "We are not making trouble," a man in an ANC T-shirt said. "We were merely passing by and Zille happened to be here." Zille said she had grown used to disruptions from the ANC. "The ANC is allowed to dance wherever they like. This is a free country. Everywhere I've been the ANC has followed. They find a street corner and they begin to toyi-toyi. "The important thing is wherever we have been, we have outnumbered them five to one." On the route, a police vehicle pulled in front of an ANC motorcade that was using loudhailers urging people not to vote for the DA, and prevented it from moving towards the DA bus. Zille was due to travel to Cape Town on Tuesday afternoon for a last round of campaigning. She will return to Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. - ++++ http://www.smh.com.au/world/anc-faces-defeat-in-port-elizabeth-20110517-1erbr.html ANC faces defeat in Port Elizabeth Franz Wild Johannesburg May 18, 2011 Nelson Mandela casts an early ballot at his home in Johannesburg, assisted by his granddaughter Ndileka Mandela. Photo: AP SOUTH Africa's ruling African National Congress is at risk of losing control of a second key city in local elections today, weakening its 17-year grip on power. The southern coastal city of Port Elizabeth, the biggest in the home province of former ANC leaders Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, may fall to the main opposition Democratic Alliance, according to analysts. The ANC's share of the city's vote fell almost 30 percentage points to just over half in general elections in 2009 from 2004. Advertisement: Story continues below Losing the municipality of Nelson Mandela Bay, which contains Port Elizabeth, means ''the stranglehold the ANC has on the electorate is broken'', said analyst Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg. After securing an end to white minority rule in Africa's largest economy in 1994, the ANC has won a clear majority in every election since then. But its support is waning as unemployment climbs and inequality persists. The ANC's share of the national vote may drop to 59 per cent from 66 per cent in 2006, according to a survey from polling company Ipsos. Of the 2050 likely voters surveyed from mid-April, 19.3 per cent said they would vote for the Democratic Alliance. The DA won 14.8 per cent five years ago. Party leader and Western Cape provincial head Helen Zille is betting the DA's record in Cape Town, which it has controlled since 2006, can win it more votes. ''I'm going to vote for the DA, 100 per cent,'' said Zoleka Ngetu, a 38-year-old maid in Port Elizabeth. ''I voted for the ANC for a long time, but I've now lost trust. There is a lot of corruption; housing is very poor; they don't fix anything; the roads are terrible. People are very, very tired.'' A dip in ANC support won't threaten the party's national majority, which stood at almost two-thirds in 2009, according to Mr Habib. Earlier this month, President Jacob Zuma said the DA were ''daydreamers'', when asked if they had a chance of winning Port Elizabeth or any other city. In a country where almost 80 per cent of the population is black, only one member of the DA's 10-person leadership is black, while 66 of its 77 lawmakers are white or mixed-race. The DA is trying to promote blacks within the party to woo more voters. BLOOMBERG Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/anc-faces-defeat-in-port-elizabeth-20110517-1erbr.html#ixzz1MdQTHFNt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! 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