JON HOUZET
AS part of its pre-election strategy, the recently relaunched African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) staged a prayer chain and march to the Ndlambe council offices last week, calling for godly governance and an end to corruption.
The peaceful march saw about 50 ACDP supporters march in single file to the CBD where they formed a prayer chain for about 15 minutes, then they moved on to the mayor’s office where they sang and danced while waiting for the mayor and speaker to receive their memorandum.
Speaker Vivian Maphaphu could not make it but sent ANC councillor Thembani Mazana in her stead. Mayor Sipho Tandani sent no apologies and only showed up when the gathering dispersed. Tandani told TotT he had gone to the doctor for a neck injury.
Appealing to the Christian vote, ACDP candidate Paul Zulu said the ACDP was “the only political party that has consistently voted against same sex marriage and abortion in parliament”.
Reading from the memorandum, he said the ACDP petitioned “those responsible for the moral regeneration of Ndlambe – politicians, officials and members of the public – to first account to God and then to the general public.
“We are totally against the bribing of certain ‘key’ Christians by politicians and municipal officials, in order to silence and suppress Christians who stand for godly principles. As a people, we fought against divide and rule tactics of the apartheid regime. As the ACDP we stand against such tactics as advanced by the ANC and DA in their statements,” Zulu said.
The ACDP called on the municipality to investigate all reported incidents of corruption, and to ensure that any corrupt councillors, officials and companies were charged and prosecuted internally, and that criminal charges were brought against the culprits.
They further petitioned the mayor to launch a blacklist and “wall of shame” on which the names of fraudsters would be posted.
“We further petition the mayor to launch a municipal fraud, theft and corruption hotline with immediate effect, where Ndlambe residents will report any irregular conduct by politicians, municipal officials and service providers,” the memorandum stated.
The party called for adequate training for municipal officials and said any non-performance should be dealt with in terms of the Labour Relations Act.
Nepotism was another item on the petition, with the ACDP speaking out against the reservation of municipal jobs for “family members, friends and girlfriends”.
“As the ACDP we are totally against those who give jobs by taking bribes and through sexual favours. The Bible also condemns such conduct – see Isaiah 30:18. This is appalling,” Zulu said.
He criticised the ruling party for the sum of its job creation being limited duration projects.
“These are not real jobs. In order to reduce unemployment, poverty and crime, we petition the mayor to create multi-skills training centres to train and equip Ndlambe residents with respective skills in various fields,” he said.
“People are told that if you do not vote for the ANC, you will lose your social grant. That is a big lie.”
He also slammed the ANC for delaying service delivery projects and development, to use them for campaign purposes, along with T-shirts and food parcels for votes.
Accepting the petition on behalf of the speaker, Mazana said: “We need to restore the moral dignity of our people that was taken away by the apartheid regime.”