ANC has problems, but vote for them anyway: Nzimande

·3 Jul 2016

Young Communist League (YCL) members must vote for the ANC on August 3 despite any issues they might have with the ruling party, SA Communist Party (SACP) general secretary, Blade Nzimande, said on Sunday.

“Let’s go and vote for the ANC overwhelmingly,” Nzimande told a hall full of YCL members gathered at the Johannesburg City Hall for their youth month manifesto launch.

Not voting, or voting for opposition parties, would not help solve problems. “When you have problems at home you don’t bring your enemy into it,” Nzimande said.

He urged the youngsters to come out in their numbers to vote on August 3. The YCL had to ensure it prioritised hotly-contested areas such as Johannesburg and Tshwane, Nzimande told the youth.

He called for YCL structures to strengthen their relationships with their alliance partners to bring about real change. “It’s not enough to just go and cast a vote and sit down. Let’s build strong structures.”

He said the main reason for lack of service delivery in certain areas was because those responsible at branch level were too concerned with internal matters.

‘Go and stop them’

Earlier, Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) president, Sdumo Dlamini, said he wanted the youth to convince those who were “confused” by wanting to vote for the Democratic Alliance or the Economic Freedom Fighters, to vote for the ruling party instead.

“Go and stop them,” Dlamini said.

He said the anarchy the EFF displayed in Parliament needed to be dealt with by voting.

Dlamini urged people not to spoil their votes purely because their preferred candidate had not made it on to the party’s final list.

“Even if you feel betrayal that you were not chosen as candidate, and they chose another ANC candidate, vote for them because it is not about them, it is about the African National Congress.

“Just vote for the ANC. We will deal with the other issues on the fourth (of August),” he said.