Defiant ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has brushed off the criticism about comments he made in the Western Cape that black people should not waste their vote on a white man again.

Magashule told residents of Philippi township in Cape Town during a campaign trail at the weekend that the ANC would reclaim the Western Cape.

He said: "Don't ever vote for a umlungu (white person), a white person will never change the lives of black people, they have oppressed us."

Magashule has since received backlash from within the party stalwarts who accused him of being a "racist" leader and called his remarks inappropriate.

The party's stalwarts said they would report Magashule to the integrity commission
as his remarks were "unacceptable".

But Magashule appeared unfazed by the comments yesterday.

"Our main hope is the black vote and there is nothing wrong to say the DA represents the white interest, the elite and the privileged, so what is wrong with that?"
he asked.

"I have explained that the ANC is a non-racial organisation. There are white progressive democrats who have been voting for the ANC and who will continue voting for the ANC."

The secretary-general was speaking outside the house of Struggle stalwart John Nkadimeng in Bramley, who was bestowed an Isithwalandwe/ Seaparankwe award by the party's top officials yesterday.

Last week during a campaign trail in Soweto, Magashule gave a woman R400 after discovering that her fridge was empty.

The DA has since filed a complaint with the IEC over the handing over of two R200 notes to the woman.

However, Magashule said he couldn't let a family starve in his presence.

"I don't know what is wrong when I find a veteran of the ANC who says to us: 'there is no food in the house'.

"So, we just contributed R400 and I don't know if that is actually breaking the electoral code. If that is the case [then] what can we say?" said Magashule yesterday.

Efforts to get a comment from the IEC drew a blank at the time of going to print.