EDITORIAL: Parties must put the people first
Alexandra residents have long had an uneasy relationship with the government in power and it's easy to see why
With just 30 days to go until the 2019 elections, the ANC and the DA trading barbs over barbs over the protests in Alexandra is probably a sign of things to come. And not a good one at that. Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, despite being in office for three years, blames it all on the ANC and has so far shown disdain for the community and its demand to meet him. The whole thing might have been defused with a handshake, the acceptance of a memorandum and a promise to look into the people’s grievances. This seems like a strange time to want to appear indifferent and aloof. And of course, the ANC is hardly going to own up to its own history of failing the people of that township, which is just a stone throw away from Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile. Mashaba was scheduled to hold a media briefing on Tuesday, at which he was likely to make allegations against the ruling party, accusing it of using law-enforcement agencies and other state institutions to wage a “political war” ag...
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