IFP’s 36-year-old Joburg mayoral candidate targets youth unemployment [VIDEO]

Velenkosini Hlabisa, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president, named 36-year-old Mlungisi Mabaso as the party’s mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) on Saturday. The announcement comes ahead of the municipal elections taking place in November.

Mabaso is MMC for Human Settlements in the CoJ and serves as the national secretary of the IFP Youth Brigade. Thus far, he is the youngest in the race to be Joburg mayor and will face the DA’s Helen Zille and ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba for the title.

In his acceptance speech, he said one of his top priorities as mayor of Joburg will be youth empowerment.

IFP cares for the youth

Mabaso said IFP cares about youth empowerment as the party has deployed young people into strategic positions.

“It says a lot about our intention as an organisation in the development and the empowerment of young people,” he added. “So IFP will be intentional in developing young people.”

He emphasised that if IFP had no intention of developing young people, he would not have been named as the party’s mayoral candidate.

IFP to upgrade facilities

One of the things Mabaso is known for is leading campaigns to reclaim hijacked buildings in Johannesburg and to tackle fraud in the allocation of state housing.

He has also not been shy about voicing his opinion on challenges related to illegal immigration. IFP, among other things, is known for its tough stance on undocumented migrants.

Mabaso said his plans for the city as mayor include upgrading sports fields, stadiums, and recreational facilities. In addition, the party will support youth development and anti-drug programs, promote township tourism and heritage routes.

Plan to restore City of Gold

He added that, as mayor, he plans to revive Johannesburg’s identity as a leading African cultural city. This will be done by using, among other things, tourism and events to stimulate local economies. Mabaso expressed his commitment to creating jobs and revitalising townships.

“And we do all those interventions because we want to have a private, vibrant city that creates opportunities and pride for its people,” said Mabaso.

“Johannesburg must once again become a city where people are proud to live in. The IFP will restore the culture of service, discipline, and excellence in local government.

“The IFP believes that streets matter, safe neighbourhoods matter, functional traffic lights matter, reliable service delivery matters, and honest leadership matters.”

More mayoral candidates to be announced

Speaking to members of the media outside the Jabulani Technical School in Soweto, Hlabisa said the party will soon announce mayoral candidates for the City of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

This comes as the media expected the announcement of Mabaso as Joburg’s mayoral candidate to be made simultaneously with the announcements of candidates for other Gauteng metros.

“We are going to announce all Metro’s mayoral candidates in Gauteng, but to go for the City of Johannesburg is very intentional,” he said. “The city of Johannesburg, as I stated, is the economic hub of our country. The gateway of our country.

“If Johannesburg is working. South Africa will work. If Johannesburg is not working, South Africa will struggle to function fully.”

Make Joburg great again

Hlabisa said the party wants to devote all its efforts to making Johannesburg a key city to work in, reviving our economy, and making South Africa a functional country.

“You will realise there are two metros that are very critical,” he added.

“[Arthur Ntuli], the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, is here. The three spheres of government are working together to support eThekwini, you know, the national government, the provincial government. And next to EThekwini, it is the city of Johannesburg.

“That is why we want to be focused so that all our efforts, attention, and the mobilisation of resources and manpower are centred around the city of Johannesburg. That is why we are concentrating on the city of Johannesburg to make our country’s economy work.”