By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday told Tekwane residents in Mpumalanga that while he and the political party he leads are not perfect, he would attempt to attend to their concerns.
Ramaphosa took the party’s campaign trail to Mbombela where he visited Tekwane South and KaMagugu.
He interacted with the residents and encouraged them to register to vote.
The community of Tekwane South told the president of social challenges that include poor service delivery, poor road infrastructure, crime and drug abuse.
The residents also raised concerns with regard to government’s communication with communities.
“Substance abuse is also a major problem because young people have turned to drugs. They no longer go to school. They have dropped out. We don’t have much access to higher education. The unemployment rate keeps on increasing every time. While in this ward we have a lot of projects, we need our municipality to work on it.”
Ramaphosa promised that he would personally make sure their issues were resolved.
He also inspected a collapsed bridge between Tekwane South and Kanyamazane, which was swept away by floods in February.
Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane told Ramaphosa a contractor would start rebuilding the bridge by the end of September.
“We wanted guarantees before he could start with the work, we wanted to make sure that the work would be done correctly,” she said.
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe was in Mogwase, in the North West, on Sunday.
Meanwhile as the Independent Election Commission reopens its candidate nomination process on Monday, the Constitutional Court will also hand down its judgement on whether or not it is allowed to do so.
While the IEC accepted the order handed down by the ConCourt, and declared elections will take place on 1 November, it also opened the candidate lists, provoking anger from various political parties.
The IEC decision also opened the door for the DA, EFF and Cope to challenge the matter, with the DA requesting direct and immediate access to the ConCourt.
Judgement was made off the court papers and no oral submissions were made. It is expected to be handed down at 10 am on Monday.