The African National Congress (ANC) “strongly” disputes recent media reports stating that members of the cash-strapped party have been directed to foot their bills to travel to Mandela Park Stadium, Khayelitsha, in Cape Town for the 113th anniversary of the January 8 celebration.
IOL previously reported this year’s event, to be held in Western Cape which is run by the Democratic Alliance (DA), is expected to be one of the smallest in over three decades.
On Monday, ANC national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that reports of the party being unable to foot transport bills were untrue.
However, she said the ANC’s Western Cape members would fill the stadium on January 11, without any need to bus in members from other provinces.
“I just need to say this very strongly, and we are not the people to speak in strong terms, but we dismiss that notion that there is a directive of such nature from the ANC. There is absolutely no such a thing at all,” she said.
Bhengu-Motsiri added that the story was “the imagination” of a news reporter and the party will be approaching the Press Ombudsman to seek recourse.
“An interview was done with the SG (secretary general Fikile Mbalula) and I was also consulted and fielded a number of questions. None of what we said suggests that our people are going to find their way to Cape Town. That is an untrue issue,” she said.
“Secondly, it is a tradition of the ANC that the hosting province of any January 8 (statement) is actually led and populated by the hosting province. The neighbouring provinces would ordinarily just flock in because it is a culture of the ANC,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
“There is no expectation that there should be buses from Limpopo, KZN (KwaZulu-Natal) driving all the way, with the roads of South Africa, with the types of accidents that we have. There is no such expectations. Of course our structures, they take the initiative upon themselves to travel to a province that is hosting,” she said.
“We run the rallies on the basis of the province that is hosting. The Western Cape is going to fill that stadium by itself.”
She also said that contrary to media reports, the host Mandela Park Stadium has a capacity of 22,000.
“I need to clarify to our people that the (stadium) has capacity for 22,000 and we are also going to be using an overflow area which we call site B to accommodate those people that may come in and not find space from within the main venue. All of that is not being reported in the reportage that is doing the rounds and we are going to make sure that we correct what is untrue,” said Bhengu-Motsiri.
IOL previously reported that in comparison, last year’s event was held at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga, which has a capacity of 43,000 people, and the previous year’s event was held at the Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein, which has a capacity of 22,000 people.
Mbalula has insisted that the stadium in Khayelitsha was the party’s first choice due to its strategic location.
The ANC’s 113th-anniversary celebration will mark the first time the party has held its birthday rally in the Western Cape since 2015.
IOL