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Home » Cllr Patel ready to ‘sell’ Laudium for ANC votes… says not relying on Indian vote as he pushes to add another squatter camp to ‘Laudium Ward

Cllr Patel ready to ‘sell’ Laudium for ANC votes… says not relying on Indian vote as he pushes to add another squatter camp to ‘Laudium Ward

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The Laudium Sun has uncovered a shocking and clandestine move by ANC Ward Councillor Naeem Patel, to solicit or support the change of boundaries of the ‘Laudium’ Ward, to include another squatter camp, so that he could get more votes during the next election.

Cllr Naeem Patel has told a ‘confidant’ of his that he is not relying on the Indian vote as the boundaries of his Ward, for the next election, will include another squatter camp, which has a majority of ANC voters

Presently, Laudium, Erasmia, Claudius, Gerhardsville and the informal settlement of Itireleng form part of Ward 61, which Patel is the Ward Councillor of. However as support for Patel is seemingly fast dwindling in the Laudium/Erasmia area, Patel is believed to have sought the assistance of his comrades in the Tshwane Council to initiate or support the change of the boundaries of Ward 61.

The aim is to remove Gerhardsville from (his) Ward 61 as residents living in that area voted mostly for the DA or the Freedom Front during the previous local government election, with the ANC receiving very little support there, and then include into his Ward, the existing squatter camp, known as ‘Spruit’ near Sunderland Ridge. The ‘Spruit’ area has about 20,000 squatters living there and is still growing. Although there are many illegal foreigners living in the ‘Spruit Informal Settlement’ area, the ANC is believed to be aiming to get at least about 2000-3000 votes from ‘Spruit’ in the next election.

Patel has already started with his ‘silent’ campaign in the area, by using businesses to support the squatters living there, in the name of charity, assisting with food hampers, etc. The move to now have two squatter camps to be part of Laudium and Erasmia is expected to have dire consequences for local residents. Although the Tshwane Council does not directly allocate budgets according to Wards, budgets are used to address the most pressing challenges in each Ward. Thus, it could mean, that Laudium/Erasmia residents will have to compete for budget allocations with the underprivileged areas of Itireleng and ‘Spruit.’ Residents of Itireleng would also be losing out as priority for services will now be competed between the two informal settlement areas.

So, for example, when Laudium residents will be fighting for funds to repair the local swimming pool, residents living on the other side of the same Ward in the improvished Itireleng and now even ‘Spruit’ will be fighting for basic services such as proper streets or water supplies or sewage systems or street lights, etc, etc.

Though unprecedented in the ANC, Patel has already made it known publically that he will be standing for the local government elections as a candidate and is believed to have told a confidant of his, that he is ‘not worried about the Indian vote,’ as the area of ‘Spruit,’ which has a guaranteed majority support for the ANC, will now be included into his Ward for the next election. In fact Patel has, on his own, changed one of the WhatsApp pages where he is one of the admins, to “Cllr Patel Supporters Group Election 2026.” Although the Demarcation Board is an independent body, appointed by the President, those serving on the board have ‘silent’ affiliations to political parties, with its chairperson Thabo Manyoni being the former ANC member of parliament. As it is a major decision of supporting or
initiating a move to change the boundaries of Ward 61, it is reasonable to believe that Patel had tabled the matter at his Ward Committee meeting and that the committee supported the proposal to add the ‘Spruit’ area to Ward 61. Most if not all of the Ward Committee members are known to be ANC supporters and are closely linked to Patel, such as Shaheen Wahab (known as Patel’s security guard), Abdul Kader Kurtha (KK), Naeem Nawab Chaudhry (former Pakistani national), Ibraheem Dockrat (LDM) and Ahmed Ismail, who are also known to be Patel’s confidants.

Ward Committee member, Shaheen Wahab (known as Patel’s security guard and his confidant), is believed to have supported Cllr Patel’s aim to incorporate another squatter camp into Ward 61.
As a Ward Committee member, Ibraheem Dockrat (LDM), is part of the collective in supporting Cllr Patel’s aim to incorporate another squatter camp into Ward 61.
As a Ward Committee member, Naeem Nawab Chaudhry (former Pakistani national), is believed to have supported Cllr Patel’s aim to add another squatter camp into Ward 61.
As a Ward Committee member, Abdul Kader Kurtha (KK), is also part of the collective in supporting Cllr Patel’s aim to incorporate another squatter camp into Ward 61.
As a Ward Committee member, Ahmed Ismail, is also part of the collective in supporting Cllr Patel’s aim to incorporate another squatter camp into Ward 61.

As proposals to the changes of the boundaries of all Municipal Wards are subject to public input, before finalisation, residents and interested groups are advised to closely monitor the proposed changes and hearing dates and object if necessary as the proposed changes will certainly have an impact on all residents living in the Laudium/Erasmia area.

For obvious reasons, Patel has not mentioned to his constituency about the proposed boundary changes to Ward 61.
*The Municipal Demarcation Board will hold public consultations on the draft Ward maps for Regions 1, 2, 3 & 4 (Ward 61) on Wednesday (May 21) at 10am at the Tshwane House Council Chambers.