The Church, The Pulpit And The Race For The Mayoral Chain

With the race for the mayoral seat of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality reaching the final stretch with just over twenty days to election day, a local Mthatha church opened its doors and exchanged the pulpit for a debate stage for ten mayoral hopefuls.

Since the RUCC is considered fertile ground to spread their message in a last ditched effort to attract the most voters, some parties even had their top guns in attendance even though they did not participate in the main debate. The debate followed after several requests from different political formations for an opportunity to address the RUCC Ministries congregation according to the church's senior pastor, Don Phillips.

"We decided to create a platform where all the parties are represented. We also wanted those campaigning for the mayoral chain to address us, not their national leaders, " Phillips said.

Supporters from the African National Congress, the United Democratic Movement and the African Transformation Movement were the loudest cheerleaders for their respective mayoral candidates. Prince Mlimandlela Ndamase, UDM mayoral candidate, said KSD residents shared their frustrations regarding sub-standard service delivery in their city.

"The challenges that we encounter are not challenges that require new policies. But require people who are decisive, who have the know-how and are committed to serve people and not their personal interest. We must unlock opportunities for residents with the capacity, the training, skills and qualifications to participate in the economy and the administration. They must feel free to approach their government for those types of opportunities," he said. Tom Mashalaba, ATM mayoral candidate, said his party was a progressive developmental community-based organization. "We have looked at KSD municipality and found that the administration does not exist. If you look into the audit reports for the past three years, they show a constant decline and a municipality collapsing. Secondly, the governance performance index indicates that the performance of KSD in the Eastern Cape is ranked no 10 out of 31 municipalities, for a council that ranks no 3 in terms of its importance. That is very bad," he said.

The ANC was represented by Makhosandile Majeke, currently the ward 8 councillor, and perhaps more familiar with council processes. Majeke received a lot of criticism from the floor for how the ANC was dealing with governance issues and the failures of the KSD municipality. He said the ANC has responded to some of the problems facing the people of South Africa.

"Since we are already in leadership, we have an advantage to show what we have done. We are also in a position to improve on the challenges and shortcomings raised here," Majeke said, adding that there was a lot being done in the KSD's 37 wards and that it was not true that the municipality was collapsing.

The debate was vibrant with some parties bringing in some of its top guns who formed part of the audience yesterday as the ten mayoral candidates fielded questions from the people.

The UDM was represented by party president and defence deputy minister, Bantu Holomisa and its current caucus leader at KSD, Raymond Knock.

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the minister of Small Business Development and ANC National Executive Committee member along with Members of the Provincial Legislature, Mlibo Qoboshoyane and Loyiso Magqashela, were part of the crowd.

Also adding their voice to the debate was mayoral candidate for civic organization, Phakama Eastern Cape, Phikolomzi Adonis and Pasika Nontshiza from the Land Party. The EFF was represented by Ncedo Kolanisi as mayoral candidate who promised to open that clinics will be open 24 hours to improve primary healthcare for the people of KSD. Mvuyisile Kondlo for uMkhonto Wesizwe Party, the South African Communist Party’s, Dr. Nomonde Dyalivan and Dr. Zukile Luyenge from ISANCO all want to be the next mayor of KSD.