In the run up to elections, politicians have been frequenting church services where they canvased for votes of the faithful. The Catholic Church has been no exception with its strong following of 3.8 million Catholics in South Africa. Catholics makes up 6% of the total South African population. Father Russel Pollitt, the Director of the Jesuit Institute, spoke to Khanya Litabe on Radio Veritas, the Catholic Radio station in South Africa, about the phenomena of politics brought to the pulpit.
Khanya Litabe chatting to Fr Russel Pollitt SJ, about politicians using church services to garner for votes.
President of the African National
Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, met with residents of Alexandra just outside
Alex Stadium to address the concerns of the residents and present the ruling
party’s plans for the community.
This comes after the #AlexShutdown
protest which saw residents take to the streets protesting against service
delivery amongst other grievances.
On Tuesday, Alex FM hosted its first political debate,
featuring, Alliance for Transportation for All (ATA) and African Democratic
Change (ADeC) discussing the state of Alexander township.
ADeC regional representative Ms Nobesuthu Cekiso, bemoaned
the poor state of service delivery in Alexander and promised to turn things
around and restore the dignity of the residents should they be voted into
power.
“It cannot be right
that 24 years into democracy residents in Alexandra are still using bucket
toilets, 50 families sharing one toilet and one water tap” she said.
ATA’s Jabulani Ntshangase, explained that his party did not
aim to govern the country, but instead have representatives in parliament who
would highlight the challenges faced by the taxi industry and how government
can play an active role in subsidising them.
“Government needs to subsidise the industry to tackle high
petrol prices and inflation”, he said.
Ntshangase warned that should the government proceed with the
introduction of Bus Rapid Transport system (ReaVaya) in Alexander, “the taxi
operators would be forced to retrench their drivers.”
The debates on Alex FM form part of the political
discussions ahead of the May 8, elections engaging candidates contesting in
Gauteng National poll and a build up to the grand political debate that will be
hosted and broadcasted live at Alex community Hall on April 25.
