Yakoob Karolia addressing a town hall debate just a week before being elected councillor. [Picture: Nasreen Naidoo/Salaamedia]
Newly-elected Lenasia councillor, Yakoob ‘Jakes’ Karolia has admitted he was nervous when people he suspected as being from outside of town arrived to vote on Wednesday. Ward 9, part of the City of Johannesburg, was the site of a by-election contest this week.
“It did get me a bit worried at one stage,” Karolia told Salaamedia’s Inayet Wadee in an interview on Friday. He claimed taxis brought in voters he was sure did not reside in Lenasia, without mentioning names.
“I’d seen certain parties bring in a lot of taxis of voters who never reside in Lenasia. That got me a bit on the edge of the spade and I thought ‘what’s going to happen if these people now vote and Lenasia’s now gone, I’m going to fail our people’,” he said.
“I must thank our people of Lenasia that they stood up and made a difference,” he added.
Turning to service delivery issues, the newly minted councillor stated residents should not have high expectations, although he intends to try his best.
“We haven’t promised anybody any high promises or high level of expectations, but we will do our best to assist our community as we’ve done before.”
Standing as a candidate for Al Jama-ah, which scooped the ward in a previous by-election, Karolia won well ahead of the pack, with 60% of the vote. The DA and ANC trailed behind.
