HAMMANSKRAAL, South Africa. (AP) — On days when a municipal truck comes to Hammanskraal to deliver drinking water, a line of South Africans forms early in the morning to fill their buckets.
This is not a remote rural community, but a township on the edge of the administrative capital of Africa’s most advanced economy. It is barely 48 kilometers from the government buildings in nearby Pretoria.
Hammanskraal’s problems – a lack of clean water, a shortage of good housing and high unemployment – are a snapshot of the problems affecting millions of people and creating an atmosphere of discontent in South Africa that will come into next week’s national elections. could force the biggest political change in thirty years. .
The African National Congress, once led by Nelson Mandelahas been in power since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. But poverty, failing government services in many places and a national unemployment rate of more than 32%, all of which mainly affect the country’s black majority, are seen as central. to the loss of support from the ruling party.
Recent opinion polls show support for the ruling ANC at below 50% – with one as low as 40% – suggesting it is in danger of losing its parliamentary majority for the first time when the country votes on Wednesday.
“I’ve been voting for 30 years, but I don’t see the difference,” said Linda Mampuru, who lives in Bridgeview’s Hammanskraal neighborhood. “When I vote this time, I want to see my children’s lives improve. My life is over because I’m old now. Who will hire me? I want to see a difference for my children.
Mampuru has illegally connected her water supply to a nearby municipal pipe that feeds the few communal taps in the area, so that she can at least do the laundry. However, she doesn’t trust the supplies for drinking or cooking.
Hammanskraal also represents the complicated political picture emerging in South Africa. While many expect the ANC to fall below 50% of the vote as a result of the frustrations, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, does not appear to benefit significantly.
Instead, South African voters are turning to a range of different parties, many of them new, for answers.
As people in Hammanskraal trudge to the water tank to get their share, the road is littered with election posters. Last year, a cholera outbreak killed more than 30 people after the water-borne disease contaminated the area’s water supply.
“Water has been a big problem. You can see that tap in my garden, no water comes out,” Tshepo Golele said after filling his bucket from the community tank. He said water is also brought in by trucks, but sometimes “it produces dirty water, we are I’m not even sure where they get this water from.”
The problems in Hammanskraal, where the Democratic Alliance is currently in charge, have been widely publicized in South Africa for years.
Vice President Paul Mashatile received a lukewarm reception when he visited Hammanskraal this week to campaign for the ANC.
“We need another thirty years to lead this country to a better life. We have worked hard in recent years, but we need more, but we can only get it thanks to your votes,” he said, according to local media reports.
Some residents laughed at his comments, complaining that politicians often show up when elections are coming up, but their issues are generally neglected in between.
The ANC had some success in transforming South Africa in the years following the end of apartheid, which had oppressed the black majority for almost half a century through a system of racist laws. In the first decade under the ANC, South Africa saw improvements in the living standards of millions of people.
But that has largely stagnated and the World Bank now estimates that more than half of South Africa’s population of 62 million people lives below the poverty line. Hammanskraal reflects a prevailing national mood of people who no longer want to wait.
Kaizer Letswalo said he will vote for a new party.
“We voted for these different parties (the ANC and the DA), but we still live like this, we drink unhealthy water that makes us sick, we can’t even flush our toilets, we have to dig holes. You have seen how bad the roads are,” he said.
“I am voting for a newly born party,” he added. “I think they can help people who suffer like us.”
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AP Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
