I’ll be councillor for everyone, says NCP ward candidate

Clamen Solomon.

Clamen Solomons believes the coloured people of Kraaifontein should support the Nationalist Coloured Party (NCP) to deliver a better life for them.

Mr Solomons, of Northpine, announced his candidacy for wards 6, 7, 101, 111 on Friday July 8 at the party’s offices in Bellville.

A former chairman of the Scottsdene High and Eikendal Primary schools’ governing bodies, Mr Solomons also chaired the Kraaifontein Community Police Forum, from 2010 to 2012, when he started the Sector 4 Neighbourhood Watch for Scottsdene, considered the most dangerous area in Kraaifontein.

He said he wanted to use “the vehicle of politics” to “help coloured people with their identity”.

Housing in Kraaifontein should be prioritised, he said, as many there still lived in backyards, owning neither land nor homes. He believes he stands a good chance at the polls.

“I’m a popular candidate, and I have fought so many struggles for the community. My track record speaks for itself.”

He accused the incumbent DA of paying lip service to the housing issue in Scottsdene, where most residents are coloured. The flats, which residents paid the DA-led City to stay in, “are like boxes of matches, where people live on top of one another” and what was worse was that people had grown “comfortable” living like that.

“If it continues that way, coloured people in Kraaifontein would never become homeowners,” he said.

In contrast, Mr Solomons said, there are no “pocket houses” in Wallacedene and Bloekombos, where mostly black Africans live. Pocket houses are council stock and rental units.

“We are ready to make that change for the coloured people in Kraaifontein,” he said.

He said the DA’s and ANC’s attitudes had changed towards the people and that both seemed reluctant to pull Kraaifontein’s coloured people out of their plight.

”We’re very optimistic about the support we have had so far. We’ve travelled to Langeberg, Swartland, West Coast and in the metro,” he said.

Asked if the strong focus on a particular race group would not hurt the party’s chances in Wallacedene and Bloekombos, where most residents were black Africans, Mr Solomon said his track record in those areas would make the difference for voters in those areas.

“I gave my nights away to Wallacedene when I was chairman of the CPF. Black people in Wallacedene know my work. If I become councillor, I’ll be councillor for everyone.”

In total, the NCP, which was founded in 2013, has 29 candidates in the metro, according to party spokesman Broidy Ortell.