The Drakenstein Valley hosted a huge presidental contingent last week, when President Cyril Ramaphosa graced the valley with his presence.
This was to hold an Imbizo to engage with citizens and businesses in the Cape Winelands District Municipality, an important centre of South Africa’s agricultural sector and export economy.
But this too was evidently the start of the government’s wooing of the Cape Winelands and more broadly the Western Cape, where the DA leads the ANC by far in support. This Imbizo was the start of what will be an aggressive campaign from the rulers of the land to try and gain majority vote in the Western Cape in next year’s general election.
Hopefully last week’s presidential entourage has taken a closer look at the Cape Winelands to have a first-hand peek at what a well governed province such as the Western Cape looks like.
Things (apart from Eskom) actually work here and the province is ruled by a provincial government that actually serves it tax-payers, instead of biting the hands that feed it, squandering millions, or rather billions.
Many political games are going to be played in the next year. One can just hope that the public will not fall for idle political promises, as we saw in the valley last week.
