REFILWE MEKOA
“History is important. We don’t forget where we came from. It hasn’t been an easy road to travel and we need to make sure that we don’t go back to the days of apartheid. You will never understand what the ANC has done if you haven’t lived in that era,” said Free State premier Ace Magashule.
Magashule was addressing thousands of residents, including Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) minister Lechesa Tshenoli, deputy minister of police, Maggie Sotyu, ANC provincial secretary, William Bulwane amongst other delegates during his state of the province address last week in Bloemfontein.
He emphasised how much the ANC has achieved in the past 20 years, things that could not be done during the apartheid years, and that those who are black should appreciate their ethnicity because they were previously oppressed.
“Those who don’t realise the progress that has been made in the past 20 years are those who have always been privileged and benefitted from the past. Some are hypocrites who use black people in order to win votes and I wonder why they should be trusted,” said Magashule. He is confident that residents will return the ANC into power in this year’s general elections.
“They criticise by saying there is no medication in hospitals. Can someone please go to our clinics and see the availability of ARV and other medication. All they want is to win elections,” he said.
Magashule fiercely criticised opposition by saying that only sceptics and cynics would deny that the ANC in the province has a good story to tell and stated there was nothing wrong with his highly criticised controversial Operation Hlasela Organisation. “We will continue helping people through Operation Hlasela. Most of the critics are bitter, they love positions and have left the ANC because of their resentment of Zuma,” he said.
He encouraged the youth to focus on getting education so that they can obtain the economic freedom they yearn for and remove their parents from poverty. The biggest highlight the province has achieved is the improvement on basic education with 85.5% of no-fee schools and improvement of financial management and accountability in audit outcomes.
A fusion centre will be built this year to provide better improved and coordinated services for disaster, crime and service delivery complaints. More infrastructure development on 8 priority roads is planned. Hostels in Mangaung and Welkom will be demolished to create a new community residential unit.
