ANC elections machine targets black vote

Johannesburg - The ANC's elections machine will target the black vote and hopes to canvass 9 million unregistered voters, City Press reported.

ANC canvassers will campaign to get black voters to the ballot box in next year's general elections instead of wasting their time trying to convince white voters to vote for the liberation movement.

The governing party's elections machine has gradually edged into gear over the past two months.

The ANC and its alliance partners - labour federation Cosatu and the SA Communist Party - have spent this weekend thrashing out economic policy stances ahead of the ANC's election manifesto launch, which is expected early next year.

Next month, canvassers will begin door-to-door visits to speak to voters.
The paper quoted an ANC NEC member as saying the party's own polls showed that registration and voter turnout in the so-called white wards were high - but these wards were dominated by the DA.

In the ANC's stronghold in traditionally black wards, very few people were registered and only a fraction of these people turned out to vote, said the NEC source.

"It is almost impossible to convince white people [who haven't been voting for the party] to vote for the ANC, so we will probably not waste time canvassing them," he said.

In Western Cape, the ANC is targeting blacks.
Documents leaked to City Press ahead of this weekend's alliance summit, show a commitment by the party to firm up agrarian and land reform policies, and to bolster the economy to create jobs.

There will also be a push to give title deeds to people in government-built township houses, because many still do not have them.

The various pieces of land reform and development legislation are expected to be passed before the end of the year to make implementation easier after the elections.

But ANC insiders have said the term after next year - which culminates in the 2019 elections - was the one the party saw as make or break.