Robert Marawa Reacts to Gwede Mantashe’s Viral Child Grant Question
- ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe conducted door-to-door campaigning in Freedom Park, Johannesburg, ahead of the 4 November 2026 local government elections
- During his walkabout, Mantashe questioned a resident about who provided her grandchildren's child support grant, and the exchange circulated widely online
- Sports broadcaster Robert Marawa shared the clip on X, drawing tens of thousands of views and strong reactions from South Africans
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A video of ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe questioning a Freedom Park resident about her grandchildren's child support grant during a weekend door-to-door campaign has drawn significant backlash on social media.
The exchange took place on Saturday, 5 September 2026, when Mantashe was deployed to the Freedom Park area in Johannesburg as part of the ANC's ground campaign ahead of the 4 November 2026 local government elections. The party's campaign schedule placed him at the Freedom Primary School voting district from 10 am.
Mantashe's grant question goes viral
During his walkabout, Mantashe engaged a resident about what government had delivered to her family, pointing to RDP housing and social grants as evidence of ANC service delivery. He then asked whether her grandchildren received a child support grant. When she confirmed they did, Mantashe followed up with:
"Who is giving them that?"
Newzroom Afrika broadcast the exchange, and the clip quickly accumulated hundreds of thousands of views online. Sports broadcaster Robert Marawa shared it on X, accompanied only by two bin emojis, signalling his disapproval. However, social media users were divided on the issue after Marawa's post.
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South Africans disagree with Marawa
@David__Ngobeni:
''I think you just want relevance. There's nothing wrong with what Gwede said. Whenever there's a lack of service delivery, the ANC takes the blame, and rightly so. But when something goes well, suddenly people don't want the ANC to take any credit. That's an absurd double standard.''
@son_jamie:
''Grants for the poor 🤣🤣🤣🤣🥃🥃🥃🥃💰💰💰💰💰.''
@_SuperDarkie:
''We need to talk about the black middle class that switches up on the ANC once they establish themselves. People like Robert Marawa have no post-matric qualification, but his successful because of ANC transformative policies. Now he's working for the private sector and trash talks the ANC.''
@Uthini572848:
''Ta Rob, where did he lie? The ANC is entitled to claim social grants as we have them as their policy. Do yourself a favour and ask ChatGPT who else in the GNU has this as a policy? The fact that the policies are now law doesn’t stop other parties from repealing them.''
@Hasman7455:
''It's funny how some people can ridicule the ANC on public platforms when it made them. We were all staying in Kasi, without tarred roads, not accessing private clinics, etc. Today they stay in suburbs; they change for the organisation that made life better for them. Batho ba batsho.''
@Mthidos:
''He’s not wrong; we had no child support grant before the African National Congress ascended to power.''
@Phuti33912114
''After saying black people do not actively look for work, today he's dangling the "grant carrot" yet people will still see this as leadership.''
The Freedom Park deployment was part of a broader campaign strategy. Senior ANC leaders have been conducting door-to-door work across Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and surrounding areas, with Deputy President Paul Mashatile having already campaigned in Alexandra in June as part of the party's pre-election mobilisation.
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Source: Briefly News
