Insults hurled ahead of poll

INSULTS flew and divisions in the tripartite alliance were laid bare as senior ANC and COPE leaders hit the last stretch of the campaign trail in Uitenhage yesterday, hoping to win two wards in tomorrow's by-election in the town.

While the results will not have a major effect on the power dynamics in Nelson Mandela Bay, the polls will test the strength of the ANC's support in the troubled small town.

COPE president Mosiuoa Lekota – accompanied by about 80 party members driving around in a bus, brandishing yellow party flags and posters – went door to door in KwaNobuhle's Ward 46 at about midday yesterday, asking residents to support his party.

A few kilometres away in Ward 42, the ANC's provincial leadership, including secretary Oscar Mabuyane and deputy provincial secretary Helen Sauls-August, as well as Bay mayor Ben Fihla and his mayoral committee members, attracted a crowd of about 150 people who followed them around the area.

The provincial leadership of the SACP – the ANC's alliance partner – also lent support to the party.

However, SACP provincial leaders Mzoleli Mrara and Xolile Nqatha were met with hostility from supporters of former ANC councillor Andile Gqabi, who sang songs insulting the ANC and its candidate, Mazwi Mini.

Gqabi, a former ANC councillor in the area, was expelled by the party for refusing to resign.

This followed a national investigation which found that his nomination as councillor in 2011 was done unfairly.

His expulsion divided KwaNobuhle, with the SACP in the area standing by Gqabi and encouraging him to stand as an independent candidate in the election.

The provincial SACP supports Mini.

Just metres from where the ANC had gathered in Ward 42, about 30 of Gqabi's supporters – clad in black election T-shirts with the words, "Stop bullyism. Promote democracy. Vote Gqabi" – hurled insults and sang songs about Mini's mother being "a witch who rides a baboon".

They were ignored by ANC members who had gathered to listen to Mabuyane - Mkhululi Ndamase