Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said his party will be filing a complaint with the Public Protector against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s manipulation of public resources as part of the African National Congress’ (ANC) “increasingly desperate” election campaign.
“We urge the Public Protector to urgently investigate this abuse of taxpayer funds for the purposes of election manipulation. It is time to hold the ANC accountable for scamming this country,” he said.
Steenhuisen claimed that Ramaphosa’s election campaign trail over the weekend, where he promised people about 500,000 skills training and job opportunities, was based on using a taxpayer-funded scheme.
He addressed the DA supporters at the Cape Town City Hall on Tuesday as part of the party's Rescue South Africa tour.
This comes after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, through the Nasi Ispani initiative, delivered some of the jobs he promised after his inauguration.
So far, Lesufi has delivered over 90,000 jobs to the people of Gauteng in the last two years and has promised more. “Less talk, more work,” is his motto.
However, Steenhuisen said this was a scam and an electioneering campaign that used taxpayer money to dish out positions to ANC cadres.
He went as far as referring to the Crime Prevention Wardens popularly known as AmaPanyaza as drunkards taken from shebeens.
He also said their uniforms were purchased from Pep stores.
“These schemes are just the latest attempts by the ANC to manipulate the people at taxpayer expense, and the DA won’t stand for it,” he said.
But Lesufi said insults aimed at him were not a thing anymore because he is “insult-proof” and he won’t let the talk stop his progress of revamping Gauteng.
During his address in Cape Town, Steenhuisen said that the ANC was planning to join hands with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
“So they are now planning to sell their voters out to the violent EFF in a Doomsday Coalition that will plunge South Africa into chaos,” he said.
He encouraged voters to vote for the DA, mentioning that it has “a sustained track record of good, clean and accountable government.”
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