As a community of Hout bay, we are a rainbow nation.
So says community worker Mbuyiseli Zakumba, who is contesting the local government election to become Ward 74’s next ward councillor.
Mr Zakumba said if he were elected, he would serve Hout Bay with a “reality check”.
“I can offer the community of Hout Bay a reality check on the real issues of Hout Bay and I want to challenge the community to be open up to each others struggles,” he said.
In 2016, the DA took Ward 74 with 62% of the votes, followed by the ANC with 33.9% and the EFF with 1.4%. But two of the six voting districts in the ward – in Imizamo Yethu – are strong bastions of ANC support, pulling well in excess of 80% of the vote in 2016. Another voting district, in Hangberg, saw the ANC net 25.5% to the DA’s 68% back in 2016.
Mr Zakumba is originally from the Eastern Cape, but relocated to Hout Bay around 1990. He was forced to leave school in 1988, dropping out in Standard 8 (Grade 10), after his mother lost her job and then passed away.
If he gets the most votes when locals go to the polls on on Monday November 1, he wants to work on building a better community platform for locals to engage in serious communal issues.
“There are things being swept under the rug. There are lots of things we don’t talk about. We see protests happening overnight from Hangberg to IY and the protesters are not being listened to, but rather they are given names of being uncivilized,” he said.
“I can offer a space to lay down what the real community issues are and I can also advocate for those who are unable to go out in the public to address the core issues of the community.”
