Elections 2024: North West yearns for days of Lucas Mangope

Bongani Bingwa speaks to Thabiso Goba, EWN Reporter.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

Many South Africans are struggling to decide who their vote should go to come 29 May.

In many provinces and municipalities, trust in the government is low due to poor service delivery.

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In North West, residents have become increasingly frustrated by unfinished projects that are abandoned halfway.

Goba says that across racial, class, and economic lines, people in the province are feeling nostalgic for the Bophuthatswana government of Lucas Mangope.

“They have seen the decay of almost everything, almost every institution in the North West… when things happen like that, you get a sense that maybe the past was not that bad.” 

- Thabiso Goba, EWN Reporter

One of the major problems the province faces is a lack of water, which forces those in rural areas to ration small amounts of water.

“This used to be a province with so much promise, and now it has whittled down to a ghost town.”

- Thabiso Goba, EWN Reporter

Goba adds that North West residents are not despondent when it comes to voting, because they feel their vote is the only instrument they have for change.

He says that the feel he got from the province is that the ANC is not under threat at all, as people overwhelmingly support the ruling party.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.