Cyril Ramaphosa in Alexandra: Where's your Herman Mashaba?

President Cyril Ramaphosa, as promised, paid a visit to the Alexandra township, in Johannesburg, right after he had concluded engagements with retired Constitutional Judge Yvonne Mokgoro regarding the futures of Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi.

The president came two days after provincial chairperson and Gauteng premier, David Makhura, made an appearance in the embattled community.

Read ANCYL stuck with garage full of Gangster State books and apartheid flags

Cyril Ramaphosa lands in Alexandra The disgruntled residents of Alex have expressed their displeasures with how the provincial government has, for a long time, neglected their calls for better service delivery.

The community also wanted something done about the scourge of crime and the erection of illegal informal housing structures, two of which are said to have been built inside the grounds of a local school.

ANC accused of inciting protests The protests have been marred with political meddling. The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have accused the ANC of inciting the protests to gain political advantage in May.

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The ANC's head of elections, Fikile Mbalula and the regions ANC Youth League leader, Kenneth Mgaga, were fingered as the lead main instigators who have been fanning the flames of these and other protests around the country.

The president, however, did not care to address these rumours. Instead, as he has been these past few weeks, Ramaphosa promised to take action in delivering the needs of the community.

Ramaphosa addresses Alex community Ramaphosa admitted that he has witnessed everything that the Alex community had complained about in their memorandum, including the sewage that runs across the township and the dirt that litters the streets.

He stated his appreciation for the community's efforts in alerting the government about their problems. He wasted no time in lambasting Joburg mayor, Herman Mashaba, for failing to show up to address the community.

He accused Mashaba of being afraid to confront them.

He is busy claiming that this was all done by the ANC How? he asked

He implored the Alex community rather sarcastically to give Mashaba a chance, something that the scores of residents vehemently refused.

However, the president explained that it is the duty of the mayor to address the issues faced by his municipality.

Mashaba did confirm, earlier in the week, that he would visit the community in the week of 15 April, after noting that he would only do so if Ramaphosa allowed space for him at his address.

The president warned those who have been erecting informal housing structures to refrain from doing so or else they would face the full might of the law.

He also expressed his utter disgust for the filth he saw in the township, something which, he said, was the primary responsibility of the local government.

Human waste is just all over the streets here and we cannot allow that I want to give the municipality a chance to sort out the mess in Alexandra. The municipality must send plumbers to unblock the blockage that we got here.

I want to give the mayor and municipality a chance to [act on] this in the next few days, he said.

The president ended off his address with the usual electioneering call, imploring the community to vote wisely on 8 May.

Tags: 2019 South African ElectionsAfrican National Congress (ANC)Cyril RamaphosaJohannesburgPoliticsprotestsservice deliverySouth Africa

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