Recent tensions between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) continue to surface, particularly in the lead-up to the ANC's January 8 Statement event scheduled for tomorrow. This is after the party allegedly accused the DA of sabotage when they failed to secure a bigger stadium for their January 8 Statement celebrations this weekend.
THEY ATTEMPTED TO SECURE A LARGER VENUE LATE
The most recent development occurred yesterday when Cape Town Mayor Gordon Hill-Lewis announced on his X account that the ANC opted for Khayelitsha Stadium for their January 8 Statement rally, commemorating the party's 113th anniversary. This marks the first occasion since the inception of the January 8 Statement rallies in the post-apartheid era that the ANC has selected a smaller venue, accommodating only 22,000 attendees in the Khayelitsha township. Hill-Lewis stated, "For the record, the ANC did not book the Khayelitsha Stadium 'out of concern' for residents. They're lying. They booked it because they were too incompetent to book any other venue in time. They only tried to book Cape Town Stadium in mid-November 2024! It was already booked for a Stormers game. Then they tried Athlone Stadium. It was also booked for the Klopse Carnival."
ACCUSING DA OF SABOTAGE
The mayor added that several ANC office bearers called him asking for help in late November and even early December. "They said we were trying to sabotage them by refusing a stadium. In November! Lol! The last conversation I had was on 5 December, and by then, they still hadn't made a booking. So please don't believe their nonsense," Hill-Lewis wrote. DA leader Helen Zille also took a jab at the ANC's choice of venue on Wednesday. She wrote on her X account: "Oh, and just to add, Khayelitsha has clean, reliable drinking water, which a growing number of ANC-governed municipalities, e.g., Johannesburg, do not."
MASINA WAS NOT IMPRESSED
Mzwandile Masina, the member of the National Assembly and chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry, and Competition, came out guns blazing against Hill-Lewis' utterances. In an interview on Newzroom Afrika this morning, he said he was surprised how Hill-Lewis was involved in the hiring of the city's halls and stadiums as a politician, a job he said is meant for municipal officials. Masina explained: "I am surprised at his utterances. It's quite ridiculous on his part, and he is trying to score cheap political points that we were late in trying to book the Cape Town Stadium."
