All hands to wheel for party
They come from different political parties but these campaign managers have one thing in common – they are all after your vote. Reporters THULANI GQIRANA and MKHULULI NDAMASE take a closer look at the people who are likely to come knocking on your doorstep.
HE has spent the past five years putting out fires in municipalities across the Eastern Cape.
Whether he has been successful or not will be seen by how Mlibo Qoboshiyane – the ANC’s provincial campaign head – will be welcomed by voters as his team pull out all the stops to keep the ruling party in power.
As expected, Qoboshiyane’s strategy relies heavily on the support of President Jacob Zuma and on religious and traditional leaders.
Being loyal to the party has been more than just a job for Qoboshiyane, who is 40.
Since joining the ANC in the late ’80s, the married father of two has occupied a number of posts, from youth activist, to arts and culture spokesman, King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality speaker and provincial spokesman, a position he has held for more than five years.
In 2011 he had to step up to the plate when he, as Local Government MEC, intervened in an ugly leadership battle in Nelson Mandela Bay in a bid to save the metro’s crumbling administration.
Also in 2011, he was reported to be one of five ANC politicians targeted for assassination before the local government elections.
At the time, he said he had been unaware that by simply doing his job he would create enemies within the ANC. “I was surprised when I saw those arrested were the same comrades I had worked closely with for many years.” Door-to-door campaigning would be the strongest tool leading up to the poll “because people appreciate being able to state their problems to leadership and sort out detailed explanations immediately”, he said this week.
The ANC had also established a Thozamile Gqweta detachment – “a team of tried and tested former Cosatu leaders to design a programme to interact with our affiliates and individual ANC members in organised unions”. Gqweta was an activist and founder of the SA Allied Workers’ Union in the Eastern Cape. He died in 2006.
“We plan to go to the factories and plants in the Eastern Cape during lunch and break times to speak to the workers, as well as their unions, to convince our supporters of our reliability, plans and realistic targets,” Qoboshiyane said.
“We will be in the Nelson Mandela metro for three full days this month, intensifying our drive to conquer all 60 wards. And I think the president of the party will be part of that.”
All higher learning campuses across the province would play key roles, as would young business people.
“We are certain we will reduce opposition [votes] by 10%.” – Thulani Gqirana
