Ward 10 candidate for the up coming by election in Mamelodi east, Tshwane photo by Dimakatso Modipa
It is all systems go for the 1 October Ward 10 by-elections in the Far East of Mamelodi and various candidates vying for the position of the Ward Councillor there spoke to Tshwane Talks on Saturday about their intentions should they be elected as the first citizens of the Ward.
These forthcoming by-elections have been necessitated by the vacancy created by the death of Ward Councillor Thabang Masemola, who was gunned down at Stoffel Park in June this year.
The following are the profiles of the competing Ward 10 by-elections candidates, their views as well as the promises that they have made:
1.ISAAC SEKELE (ANC): He lives in the Stoffel Park area of Ward 10.
Has been living in Stoffel Park for fifteen years now but has been in Mamelodi for over 25 years.
He started being involved in politics in the Limpopo Province where he was born and bred. He joined Congress of South African Students (COSAS), became an SRC leader, then joined the ANC Youth League, then the Young Communist League, then joined ANC and became chairperson of Ward 17 branch of ANC in Mamelodi.
“Presently in Ward 10 I am an ordinary but active member of the ANC who is serving the community without expecting any benefits in return,” said Sekele.
“If elected, I am going to serve the community to the best of my ability and even when I was not a Councillor I worked hand-in-hand with other Councillors to develop Stoffel Park; to facilitate the process of granting permanent stands to the residents of the area as well as the electrification of the area, and at the moment we are in the process of making sure that a tarred road which will stretch all the way to Mams Mall is built in Stoffel Park,” he said.
“If elected my job is going to be very simple because I have the experience of working for the community and all I need now is an official mandate from the electorate so as to move on with the work of developing Ward 10 as a whole,” said Sekele.
He said he will prioritise community needs over everything else and won’t work with gangsters that are prevalent in the area.
He pointed out that areas that need urgent attention in Ward 10 include shortage of water supply, electricity and unemployment, especially among the youths.
2. JOE KGOPA (MK PARTY) “I feel irie that I have been elected as a Ward Councillor candidate for Ward 10 and what makes matters easy is that I am a child of the community of Ward 10; I know what the needs of the community are; I am not someone who is still going to ask as to what it is that the community needs because I know that already, and once I get elected I will start working right away,” he said.
Kgopa was previously a member of the ANC and was asked to stand as the party’s candidate in the 2011 Municipal elections but declined to do so as he didn’t want to grab all the power for himself but wanted other people to become Councillors because he was chairperson of the ANC in his ward.
He revealed various issues which are bedeviling the Ward 10 community at the moment, which include failure to pay premiums to funeral parlours and in most cases he has used his own money to bury several people in Ward 10.
“I will work 24 hours every day of the week for the community if I get elected and I promise that once elected, people will see changes in the community immediately,” said Kgopa.
Other issues which need immediate attention in Ward 10 are domestic violence and crime in general.
“I will erect a gate at Stoffel Park bridge as well as at Lusaka bridge to make sure that drivers of each and every car that leaves or enters our area are compelled to produce documents which prove that the car that they are driving actually belongs to them; that it has not been stolen,” he said as he in the process promised to introduce stringent crime prevention patrols.
He said MK Party has no funding from outsiders; that it funds itself and emphasised that this is unlike other parties which are funded by gangsters who give them frequent donations.
“I am not going to be a Councillor who is obsessed with shares in community projects but I will instead use part of the salary I will receive from the Municipality to fix the potholes that are prevalent in our Ward,” he said.
3. NICHOLAS MASHABELA (EFF) “I joined the EFF at its inception in 2013 because the EFF is a party that helps the poor, and as a poor person myself I like helping other poor people to make ends meet,” said the 40-year-old Mashabela who is from Lusaka.
“As the EFF we want to close the gap that presently exists between the rich and the poor and put ownership of the land under the control of the government so that all the mineral wealth would benefit all South Africans equally,” he said.
Mashabela promised a corruption-free administration in Ward 10 should he be elected as Councillor and emphasised that everything will be transparent, including the hiring of residents in community projects as well as service delivery to residents.
He said as the EFF they have realised that there are corrupt elements in the police who are working hand-in-hand with criminals in Ward 10.
He revealed that once elected he will make sure that street lights remain lit all the time so as to dissuade criminals from carrying out their activities in the dark.
He said he will also tackle issues like the killing and abuse of women and children and to this effect he will make sure workshops are conducted for boys and men so that they can learn that their responsibility is to protect women and children and not to abuse them.
“The EFF is your last and only hope; go out there on 1 October to vote for the EFF because as the EFF we live with the community and have helped on issues like registering children at schools as well as turning around the local Rephafogile High School into a well-performing school as it was a gangster- infested school all along,” he said.
He promised to build a pedestrian bridge within a month of his election to make sure that those who walk alongside the road do so safely and also promised to put an end to water supply crisis in the Ward.
He said urgent attention will also be given to the prolification of Early Child Development Centres, skills development programmes for the unemployed and mentorship programmes for those who are in the business sector, especially women.
4.SHAHID MATIMBA (AL-JAMA-AH):
He was a supporter of the ANC all along and voted for it several times but after realising that the ANC doesn’t fulfill its promises in Ward 10, he decided to join forces with Al Jama-Ah party.
He is 59 years old and has been living at Stoffel Park since its inception some 30 years ago and said he knows all the problems faced by the community of Ward 10.
He said crime in the area is rife and that there is a child-kidnapping syndicate in Ward 10 which is responsible for the disappearance of children and also said patrol groups must be set up to work hand-in-hand with the Community Policing Forum (CPF).
Matimba said his immediate responsibility upon election will be to fix all the roads and build clinics in Ward 10.
“Another debilitating factor in Ward 10 is that there are grandchildren who abuse their grandparents and substance abuse is also rife in the area because there are no extra-mural activities which would keep children away from such negative behaviour,” he said.
“We won’t collaborate with gangsters in running this ward because the interest of gangsters is to merely make a quick buck and they don’t care one iota about the well-being of the community.
“Though I am a new-comer into the politics of Ward Councillorship, I am begging the community to give me a chance so that they can see what I can do for them,” said Matimba.
5.NOKULUNGA NONJIKO (DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE):
She’s been living at Riverside section of Ward 10 since 2016.
She grew up in a politically-conscious home and her brother Ben Nonjiko is one of the activists who skipped the country during the days of apartheid to join the ANC under a military grouping known as Masupatsela-a-Sisulu.
“I am a community-inclined person at heart and after realising that there are many things which are not in order in the community, I decided pluck up courage and help in the battle to uplift my local community of Ward 10,” she said as she indicated that she has been a member of the DA for five years now and believes in the values that are espoused by the party; namely fairness, diversity, freedom and equal opportunities
Nonjiko said her first priority would be to make sure that the City of Tshwane plays a major role in the eradication of crime in Ward 10.
“As a matter of urgency, a mini police station would come in handy so that residents here can start living in peace and another issue is that of the roads which are not in good shape as they limit the right to freedom of movement,” said the 52-year-old Nonjiko who used to be involved in the construction sector business before dedicating herself fully to politics.
“I will immediately urge residents to sign a petition calling for strong police visibility in Ward 10; even if that visibility is in the form of crime wardens Amapanyaza,” she said as she pointed out that more CPF members must be given training to keep Ward 10 safe from criminal activities.
She said she will also concentrate on the construction of storm water drainage systems because water that flows from the nearby mountain hill during heavy rains causes havoc as it sweeps away the shacks of residents.
“On the 1st of October go and vote for Mma-Tshwane and all our wishes regarding service delivery will come true,” she enthused.
6.GIVEN SIPHO MONGWE (BOLSHEVIKS PARTY)
Mongwe started living in Ward 10 since 2006 and he started his political career in Limpopo where he was elected President of Kheswane High School in 1998.
He has been Secretary General of the South African Communist Party in Ward 10 from 2011 to 2016.
He has also served in the Community Policing Forum since 2016.
Mongwe is 47 years old and lives at Riverside area of Ward 10. His manifesto as is as follows:
1.To democratise the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) and open it to appraisal so as to bring about fairness in the administration and hiring of residents in the programme.
2.To fight off crime by bringing mobile police stations to Ward 10 so as to allow police to react quickly to incidents of crime.
3.To bring about the installation of more electricity transformers to enhance the electrification efforts in Ward 10.