VORY PARK – Deputy President Paul Mashatile received a warm but pointed welcome in Ivory Park on Friday, as residents used the ANC’s door-to-door campaign to express both hope that they are finally being heard, and frustration that service delivery has failed them for too long.
Mashatile, who is leading the ANC’s ground campaign in Gauteng ahead of the November local government elections, visited households in the sprawling Tembisa settlement after being received by the ANC Women’s League at Eqinisweni Secondary School.
Inside cramped houses where families share electricity and struggle for space, residents did not hold back.
“The ANC can do better. We are struggling with what is happening here with the service delivery here,” said Thuto, a resident, capturing the anger that has driven voter apathy in many parts of Johannesburg.
But for others, the fact that the country’s second-in-command came to their doors was itself a sign that the ANC has not abandoned them.
“I’m glad the government is finally working towards helping us, the community. We’ve been struggling for too long, and it is time for a change,” said an elderly woman who welcomed Mashatile into her home.
It was that contrast – between hope and frustration – that defined Mashatile’s visit.
Dressed in ANC colours and flanked by volunteers, Mashatile walked from house to house, listening to complaints about overcrowded RDP houses where privacy is impossible, and about electricity connections that are shared, overloaded and unreliable.
In each household, he acknowledged the work being done by ANC volunteers and officials, but also admitted what residents already know.
“The volunteers are here working every day,” Mashatile said.
“It’s important that we do focus and make sure that we address these issues. The challenges are not going to disappear overnight.”
The message is carefully calibrated. As deputy president and the ANC’s national campaigner, Mashatile is tasked with restoring trust in communities like Ivory Park – a densely populated area on the edge of Midrand where rapid urbanisation has outpaced housing, power and sanitation.
For the people of Ivory Park, the hope is not simply for leaders to visit their homes, but for the changes they need – bigger houses, stable electricity, jobs for their children – to become a reality in their everyday lives.
Mashatile was warmly received. Whether that warmth translates into votes in November will depend on whether the ANC can convince Ivory Park that this time, being heard will mean being helped.