Cape Town – ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile has defended his criticism of the DA-run government in Cape Town, accusing it of neglecting townships and informal settlements like Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.
Mashatile’s remarks came in response to DA leader Helen Zille, who dismissed his comments as “bulls**t” on Twitter.
To highlight his point, Mashatile visited Gugulethu on Tuesday, drawing attention to the unsanitary conditions, including raw sewage and trash-filled streets, which he said demonstrate the DA’s failure to properly serve these communities.
ANC deputy President Paul Mashatile responds to DA Helen Zille’s ‘bullshit’ remarks.
“You can see behind me here, piles of rubbish. The municipality of the DA is not cleaning this place. People are living in dirt.” pic.twitter.com/xB4U5gtmp2
— Kgothatso Madisa (@kgmadisa) January 7, 2025
He also challenged Zille, suggesting she had never visited these areas and didn’t understand the issues faced by residents.
“I don’t know when last you’ve seen her in Khayelitsha. I don’t know even if she knows where Khayelitsha is,” Mashatile said.
He added: “You can see behind me here, piles of rubbish. The municipality of the DA is not cleaning this place, people are living in dirt here,” said Mashatile.
“So when we comment and say they don’t care about our people, it’s true. Here are the facts, anybody can see.”
Mashatile affirmed that the ANC, at the national level, would step in to address these issues, as they had a real understanding of the problems, unlike the DA.
We stand behind our Deputy President, Cde Paul Mashatile on his statement on the state of Khayelitsha. Hellen Zille’s predictable attacks on the ANC do little to hide the DA’s failures in the Western Cape, where many communities remain neglected and inequality deepens. While she… pic.twitter.com/8qx5VHjdL1
— African National Congress (@MYANC) January 7, 2025
He promised that national government intervention would occur regardless of the DA’s stance.
“And we are not going to rely on them, national government is going to come here and work with our people, support them,” he said.
“We are here not just because we want people to come to the rally, we are here because we want to know their problems, we want to see their problems, we want to work with them to resolve these problems.
“We are going to do it whether the DA likes it or not. We are here, these are our people. They don’t do it as provincial government and municipality, we [national] will do it.”
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