ANC AIMS FOR 65% MAJORITY IN NELSON MANDELA BAY

The ANC has just over half the 120 seats in council but has recently lost ground to the opposition

ANC mayoral candidate Danny Jordaan and Eastern Cape chairperson Phumulo Masualle

Xolani Koyana | about 2 hours ago

PORT ELIZABETH - The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape is confident it will hold on to the hotly contested Nelson Mandela Bay metro despite what appears to be a surge by the Democratic Alliance (DA).

At a media briefing addressed by ANC mayoral candidate Danny Jordaan and Eastern Cape chairperson Phumulo Masualle, the party says it’s aiming for a 65 percent majority.

The ANC has just over half the 120 seats in council but has recently lost ground to the opposition.

In the 2011 local government elections, the ANC’s support in the metro dropped from 66 percent in 2006 to 52 percent.

Jordaan says voters had turned their backs on the ANC because the city was headed towards bankruptcy but now it has R2 billion in reserves.

“The metro has a high credit rating by Moody’s, who upgraded it by three notches, and the metro is down on corruption, which is a major issue because it was a major turnoff for people.”

The ANC’s closest rival, the DA, received 40 percent of the vote in the last local government election but Jordaan says in this campaign the party’s been able to attract DA supporters in the Northern Areas.

The party would not entertain the question of a coalition.

(Edited by Winnie Theletsane)