Mr. Sizwe “Mavava” Sikhakhane, the businessman who has been elected to lead the IFP in the center of Thekwini, REFUSED to agree to participate in the race for office.
Sikhakhane said he had to be persuaded to finally agree to run for office at the conference held in Durban on Sunday.
He said this during an interview with Solezwe.
“I asked why they raised my name because I know there are other leaders, I am not a leader. I am actually a person who avoids positions. Everywhere I work with people, I don’t like to hold positions. But this time I said let me listen to them.”
Sikhakhane, who hails from Nkandla, is very popular in the taxi industry and is a well-known singer.
Sikhakhane said that he started to get involved in politics in his youth but then withdrew due to being busy.
“In my youth, I was the chairman of the youth, in Mlaza, at 17. I think it was 2007 or 2008. Watching things become more and more, I backed off.”
Sikhakhane said that he has been holding it in the IFP even though he was not in office.
“I’ve never had another team that I can imagine myself being like.”
The IFP is the third largest party in Durban Municipality, it is part of the coalition parties.
Sikhakhane said they want to double the number of councilors they have in the council.
“We are determined to grow. Even if we win but as long as we grow. It depends on whether we are able to work with other people. The important thing is that we can leave people behind. We have to go back to these people who were left behind.”
The IFP circle in the center of Durban includes different areas where there are hostels, slums, townships and in the community such as Clairwood, Mayville, Chesterville, Overport, Springfield and the center of Durban.
Sikhakhane said it saddens him to see people who have lived for a long time in areas below the center of Durban suffering.
Sikhakhane suggests that people who have been waiting for a long time and those who live in slums should be housed in unoccupied buildings in the center of Durban.
“Kyou have people who are taken out of the slums, they are made into tins. They have been living in cans for years, some of their children have finished school sitting in cans. Sit has many closed buildings where crimes are committed. Maybe we should bring back these people who were abandoned in the slums and waiting to live in buildings full of criminals.”