As election fever heats up, with just two months to go before residents are given a once in a five year chance of electing their Ward Councillor and political party to jointly run the Tshwane Metro Council, the wooing for votes has begun.
Many residents say that it is seemingly becoming more evident that this election will not be about ‘may the best man win’, but rather which candidate is prepared to go against morals and principles, speak with a forked tongue, be in the good books of the rich and corrupt, in order to get huge funding for their election campaign, play the ‘divide and rule’ game amongst the various religious and cultural bodies within the community and to have registered (for voting) in Ward 61, a number of squatters and foreigners (with questionable SA ID’s), to vote for them.
There a number of candidates contesting the Ward Councillor position in Ward 61.
Imraan Ahmed of Claudius said, “I note that Cllr Naeem Patel has become a reactionary. He is so predictable. Many times after the Laudium Sun publishes a complaint from residents about him, he immediately sends out
a message, indirectly in response to the article, where he tries to mitigate the complaint. Just recently the Laudium Sun highlighted the breakfast meeting arranged by Naeem Patel with the Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia and the community, made up mainly of ANC supporters. However, the Laudium Sun correctly pointed out that those who attended were mainly Muslims males and that many from other religious faiths were left out. As expected, to counter the article, Naeem reacted by doing some ‘damage control’ and dangled a carrot, by including in his list of 11 people the ANC allowed him to invite… Sanjay Govind (who seemingly is an ardent supporter of the ANC and Naeem Patel) and Harsha Dayal from the Shree Pretoria Seva Samaj to meet President Ramaphosa and other top ANC leaders at the launching of the ANC election 2026 manifesto in Hammanskraal. Of course Naeem’s Pakistani friends and religious leaders from Pakistan and India, who are his ‘die hard’ supporters, were also part of the eleven invited.”
Meanwhile a number of residents lashed out at the various religious leaders, for publically showing support for the ANC and Naeem Patel, by attending the ANC election manifesto launch.
Resident, Anil Bhana told the Laudium Sun, “It is unacceptable for our religious or community leaders to attend political meetings of any party, or to show support for a particular candidate or party, as the followers or supporters of the various religious groups come from different backgrounds and are supporters of different political parties.”
Following the invite with the President on Sunday, Naeem suddenly organised ‘a meeting’, two days later, with Sanjay and Council officials concerning the Rebecca Street Crematorium. Although a committee was formed to address issues at the Crematorium, no other member was invited for the meeting.
