Parties in final push to win voters as elections loom

Former President Kgalema Motlhanthe is seen signing his pledge at the ANC pavilion at Nasrec. Picture: Nhlanhla Phillips/ African News Agency (ANA)

Former President Kgalema Motlhanthe is seen signing his pledge at the ANC pavilion at Nasrec. Picture: Nhlanhla Phillips/ African News Agency (ANA)

Published Apr 29, 2019

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Johannesburg - With just a few days to go before the May 8 elections, political parties are pulling out all the stops as they enter the final push in their campaigns, which will culminate in closing rallies over the weekend.

On Sunday, the ANC and the EFF are expected to hold their closing rallies at the Ellis Park Stadium and Orlando Stadium respectively, just a day after the DA holds its own rally at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto.

ANC national elections manager Lerato Monethi said President Cyril Ramaphosa would return to Gauteng on Monday, after spending the weekend in the Eastern Cape.

Ramaphosa would engage various sectors of society in Sandton on Monday, followed by a Siyanqoba evening at the Sandton Convention Centre on Wednesday.

Ramaphosa is expected to be the main speaker at a May Day rally in Durban, with Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande sharing the stage with the president.

EFF leader Julius Malema will also address a May Day rally in Alexandra. The red berets leader will be the main speaker at the party's final Tshela Thupa rally at Orlando Stadium three days later.

DA spokesperson Mabine Seabe said that today party leader Mmusi Maimane would be at Waaihoek Wesleyan Church in Bloemfontein, where the ANC was founded in 1912.

He also said Maimane would address a Workers Day rally in the Western Cape, which would serve as the province's final rally.

IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi launched the party's Sizonqoba campaign in Durban on Sunday.

“This is the final stretch before the elections,” Buthelezi said, adding that the party's closing rally would take place at Ulundi Stadium on Sunday.

Good party spokesperson Cameron Arendse said their leader Patricia de Lille had returned from campaigning in Port Elizabeth to resume her activities in the Western Cape.

Arendse said the party was focusing on grassroots activities by holding door-to-door campaign and community meetings and targeting disillusioned voters.

Political Bureau

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