African Content Movement (ACM) leader Hlaudi Motsoeneng received a shot in the arm this week when the Maluti-a-Phofung municipal council in the Free State elected one of his councillors as the new head of the municipal public accounts committee.
ACM , which has only two seats of the council’s 69, defeated the DA on the ballot with a tally of 33 votes against five to claim the position previously held by the EFF.
Motsoeneng told Sunday World this is exactly the momentum needed ahead of the party’s voter registration drive this coming Saturday at the local Phuthaditjhaba stadium in Qwaqwa, Free State.
“This is our first mass rally,” he said.
A few weeks ago, Motsoeneng, who was a guest on the Sunday World Engage podcast, was jittery about hosting a stadium rally in his hometown, especially when the governing ANC – with its mass appeal – opted for a multi-purpose hall during a recent electioneering campaign.
Motsoeneng told Sunday World he expected the 10,000-seat stadium to be filled to capacity both on the field and in the stands.
“Confirmed numbers from our own members now stand at 8 000. We think by this week we will reach more than 10 000.
“We have taxis arranged for members – more than 400 – to go from ward to ward to pick up community members. We also have some buses.
We want to fill that stadium with locals. We are slaughtering more than 15 cows, so it will be a feast. We are also targeting first-time voters. We want to encourage them to vote.”
He said the ACM has a formidable footprint in the Free State.
“If people in the area vote for us, ACM will be in the legislature and parliament. We are going to contest only in the Free State and nationally.
In a social media video promoting the voter registration drive, Motsoeneng enlisted veteran actors Jerry Phele and Jabulani Nkosi (Mofokeng and Chirwali from the old comedy-drama Emzini Wezinsizwa).
The duo is scheduled to run a series of community activation programmes across Qwaqwa, Kestel, and Harrismith starting tomorrow.
According to census data, Maluti-a-Phofung is home to 353 453 residents, of whom 186 144 are registered voters.
