Parties in last minute push for votes ahead of May 29

It is crunch time for political parties as many hosted their final rallies over the weekend in an effort to woo over 20 million eligible voters to vote for them on Wednesday.

Political parties registered to contest the general elections campaigned until the cut-off time, which was midnight, in their final electioneering quest.

The high unemployment rate, corruption, load shedding, high crime levels, gender-based violence and femicide, and service delivery were high on the priority list of the political parties.

On Sunday, the DA held its “rescue South Africa rally” in Benoni, Ekurhuleni, where party leader John Steenhuisen said the ANC would lose the outright majority which had been abused for decades.

“This new chapter will not be written by the ANC or its President Cyril Ramaphosa of the rotten people at the Union Buildings. It will be written by the people of South Africa. The DA is looking for a convincing victory,” said Steenhuisen.

The IFP held its “Siyanqoba” rally at the uMhlathuze Sports Complex in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday.

Party leader Velenkosini Hlabisa took a swipe at Ramaphosa for hastily signing into law the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill just before the elections despite there being no plan to fund it.

ActionSA held its rally on Sunday in Midrand, where party leader Herman Mashaba said after many years of supporting the governing party –including financial support for the ANC in the dark days of apartheid – he could no longer stand on the sidelines and allow South Africa to become a failed state.

“Too many patriotic South Africans paid the ultimate price to see the end of apartheid. In honour of them, we cannot give up on South Africa. Prior to 1994, we fought for recognition and equality. We fought for a South Africa that does not divide its citizens based on the colour of their skin,” Mashaba said.

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) held its rally at Makwana Great Palace in the Eastern Cape on Saturday.

“There is nothing that pains me more than seeing the pain and hopelessness from the millions of South African citizens, because what I do is to engage the people from hawkers, unemployed, and almost everyone.

Once you engage them one can see they have lost hope simply because they have been voting since 1994 and have been let down ever since,” said ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula.

Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Musa Maimane, during the “jikizinto rally”, told hundreds of his supporters in Johannesburg that the party would create over 2 million jobs and end corruption if given the chance to rule the country.

Maimane said his party was serious about fighting crime, hence the plan to hire about 120 000 newly trained officers to beef up security for citizens.

Maimane also said that if former president Nelson Mandela was alive, he would have voted for Bosa.

“History will remember the coming elections,” said Maimane. On Saturday the ANC held its “Siyanqoba” rally in Soweto, where President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that victory for the party was certain.

Ramaphosa’s address came just hours after he signed the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill and the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill.

“The signing of these two acts signals our determination to continue to build an ethical, capable state with strong institutions that can deliver on their mandate of improving the lives of every South African,” he said at the

Union Buildings on Friday morning. Ramaphosa said that with the signing of the NPA Amendment Bill, the country would once again have a Scorpion-like institution to fight the scourge of corruption.

Cape Times