Hon Speaker, the credibility of the fourth election, which is coming, depends on the conduct of different political parties. Most parties have signed a code of conduct that they will allow the elections to be free and fair. It is disappointing that the ANC is just paying lip service to this commitment.
Hon Speaker, the free and fair elections include the freedom to assemble. If the party in control of public property uses dirty tactics to deny other political parties access to public property, it cannot and will not be regarded as free and fair. That is rightfully called abuse of power.
On 16 December last year Cope booked and paid for the Kaizer Sebothelo stadium to celebrate Cope's fifth anniversary in the Free State. This was after we had tried to get the Free State rugby stadium, and were told that there was going to be an Africa Cup of Nations competition there, which we all knew was not going to take place. When we wanted the cricket stadium, we were told the same thing, about a cricket game that was going to take place. This was another blue lie.
We later discovered that the hand of the ANC had been active, via its chairperson, Ace Magashule. We ultimately won a court case against the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, which is going to spend large amounts of ratepayers' money.
Recently, we tried to book the Free State Stadium for the launch of our manifesto. The same story surfaced, whilst all of us knew that the Cheetahs were in Australia and New Zealand. We were told that Bloemfontein Celtics were going to play, whilst we knew that they were going to play Moroka Swallows in Soweto.
Officials at these stadia told us that the ANC chairman had told them not to give Cope a venue. Luckily, he could not intimidate the Bloemfontein Showgrounds management ... [Time expired.] [Interjections.]