President of the ANC, comrade Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa,

Leadership of our Alliance, councillor candidates, comrades and friends,

Most importantly ordinary South Africans from across the nation,

It is an honour to be with our ally, the African National Congress as we launch this elections manifesto ahead of our most contested local government elections since 1994.

We have achieved much that we can be proud of and must defend since the dawn of democracy, from rolling out basic services to more than 90% of the people who were once denied access to such fundamental human rights as clean water, decent sanitation and electricity, to systematically breaking down the legacies of apartheid.

Today ours is a government led by the ANC that listens to the poor and when it makes mistakes, seeks to correct them. 

We have come far since the dark chapter of state capture and corruption, when loadshedding once threatened the entire economy.  Today we are tasked with reducing the price of electricity and ensuring that those involved in corruption are brought to justice.

The ANC’s local elections manifesto speaks to the needs of workers, from compelling all municipalities to pay salaries, pension funds and other third-party payments on time to ending outsourcing and ensuring all workers have the dignity of decent work.

The manifesto talks to the needs of the working class from investing in infrastructure to create badly needed jobs, to providing our communities with reliable and affordable basic services, to keeping our streets clean, to tackling criminal hotspots.

The manifesto correctly commits to a new funding model to enable municipalities, particularly in the rural areas, to have the necessary funds to deliver basic services.

The task is upon all of us, the ANC, the SACP, COSATU and SANCO, and the nation at large, to hold our Mayors and Councillors, irrespective of which party they come from, to deliver to the people, in particular the poor.

The days of tolerating mediocrity, corruption and criminality must end.  Those who fail to deliver must go.  Those who steal from the public must be arrested.

The ANC can rest assured that COSATU will remain with you as we crisscross the nation from workplaces to taxi ranks, from communities to universities, to ensure all our voters vote.  We will remain with you once the elections pass and the most difficult work lays ahead.

COSATU remains committed to our Alliance Partners, the ANC and the SACP, and will ensure that come November 4, the Alliance not only emerges victorious at the ballot box from the Cape to Limpopo, it remains united and continues to lead this great nation.

Thank you.  Amandla! Matla!

For enquiries, please contact:

Zanele Sabela (COSATU Spokesperson)

Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639

Email: zaneles@cosatu.org.za