The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) has called on eligible voters to take control of their future by voting in the local government elections scheduled for 4 November.
PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso made the call during an election campaign in Sharpeville on Saturday, where party supporters retraced the historic march against apartheid pass laws led by Robert Sobukwe on 21 March 1960.
Approximately 5,000 Sharpeville residents took part in the historic protest, which ended in tragedy when apartheid police opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least 69 people and injuring more than 180 others, according to widely documented historical accounts.
The Sharpeville Massacre sparked international condemnation and became a defining moment in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.
Decades later, Nyhontso said the PAC believes residents have an opportunity to bring about change by voting out leaders they believe have failed to deliver services.
“Actually, here there is no municipality – it has collapsed long ago here, there are no leaders. Here there is no governance, there is lawlessness, there is corruption,” Nyhontso said.
“That is why people of Sharpeville must just go out there and replace them and give the PAC a chance to bring service delivery to them.”
PAC weighs in on illegal immigration protests
Meanwhile, the PAC has expressed sympathy with South Africans frustrated by illegal migration, arguing that the government’s failure to address unemployment and service delivery challenges has contributed to tensions in communities.
Nyhontso said the recent protests in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng could have been avoided if the government had done more to create jobs, improve living conditions and provide essential services.
The protests followed renewed public debate over a Constitutional Court ruling delivered in July concerning asylum seekers’ access to the asylum application process. The ruling requires that administrative obstacles must not prevent asylum seekers from having the merits of their applications considered.
Commenting on the underlying causes of the tensions, Nyhontso argued that economic hardship and the lack of employment opportunities were central to the problem.
“At the end of it and the gist of all these problems is the lack of the state to create jobs, it’s the lack of the state to create employment…it’s the lack of the economy not growing,” he said.
“Otherwise, if jobs were there, if employment was there, we would not be having any of these issues.”
The PAC’s comments come as political parties intensify their campaigns ahead of the local government elections, with service delivery, unemployment and migration among the issues shaping public debate.
