“I don’t care who you are sharing a bed with. When a community member calls you, you must answer the phone, regardless of the time and place.”

This was the instruction ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa gave to several candidate councillors in Seshego, Polokwane during an election campaign in EFF leader Julius Malema’s hometown in Limpopo.

“I do not care who you are sleeping with or staying with and what you are doing at that time, you leave and attend to the people. Whether you are out partying, doing whatever you are doing at 2am, you attend to the people because we want the needs of our people to be addressed.”

Speaking during day two of his election campaign in Limpopo, Ramaphosa told a gathering of about 1,500 people in ward 13 that issues affecting the community should be prioritised.

Ramaphosa, who was accompanied by ministers Thoko Didiza, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Aaron Motsoaledi, said: “Our people have a lot of problems including water, electricity and jobs. A lot of people are unemployed, especially the youth. We need to create jobs.”

He said he was not happy with the state of roads in the province.

“Your mayor has assured me he will make sure the problems will be addressed.”

With seven days to go until the country goes to the polls, Ramaphosa candidate councillors in Seshego that they had signed a pledge to serve their communities with integrity.

He told the candidates people expect councillors to work for the people and to refrain from filling council positions with friends and family members.

“With municipalities, we have done fairly well, but I want us to do more and better and we can do more if all of us go out to vote. This time around we said we want to change the way our municipalities are run. We want municipalities that are well run and not municipalities that function at an unacceptable level.”

Ramaphosa said the ANC had the best manifesto.

“They (other parties) will come to you, some wearing red, blue, green and white. They will come to you and say ‘nywe, nywe, nywe’, saying nothing because they do not have a plan. We have a plan and I am telling you the truth.”

As part of the renewal process, Rampahosa said the ANC had given the community the power to choose a councillor candidate and decided mayoral candidates must undergo vigorous interviews.

“We don’t want someone who will sleep on the job. We want someone who will be knowledgeable because problems start at the municipality when people start fighting among themselves and that’s what creates factionalism.

“You don’t even know why they are fighting. The divisions must come to an end. We do not want divisions. If you want divisions, you must leave (the ANC) because we want unity.

“If there are divisions we will open the door for you to leave, and if you don’t want to go out the door you will leave through the window.

“We are fixing and putting it back together. Those who are doing things out of order, we are showing them the door. Disciplinary processes or step aside.”

Ramaphosa said communities told him they want “a united and renewed party that will go back to the ANC values of its founding fathers and mothers of the ANC. At a national level we are fixing a lot of things you have identified, like the R350 Covid-19 grant”.

He appealed to residents to go out in their numbers to vote on November 1.

“In 2016, the people of Polokwane did not go out in their numbers to vote. The number of people who used to vote for the ANC decreased because a lot of you did not vote.

“When we go to the elections, Limpopo is a top performing province. When we talk about our support base, Limpopo comes out at the top. People are looking at Polokwane and want to know how the people are going to vote.

“It is important that we work towards winning all the wards the ANC lost. There mustn’t be a single ward taken by another political party. I don’t care which political parties.”

TimesLIVE