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DA Manifesto Speech
DA Manifesto Speech
Mmusi Maimane MP
Leader of the Democratic Alliance
We must never, ever under-estimate how far we have come, and what it took to get
us here.
And we must never go back to a time when some peoples lives were valued more
highly than others.
Fellow South Africans, Apartheid may be dead and buried, but we live with its legacy
today.
And nowhere is this more evident than in the quality of education our children receive.
Our poorest schoolchildren are being neglected, and the gap between the
performance of poor children and rich children is widening every day.
While the matric pass rate in the richest schools has remained unchanged at over
90%, the pass rate of schools in the poorest areas has dropped by almost 10% in the
past two years.
And half of our children dont even make it to matric, let alone pass. It is painful to say
this but, two decades after the birth of our democracy, Bantu Education is alive and
well.
This is why young black people are falling behind when it comes to skills and jobs.
This is why, in 2016, the face of poverty is still black.
And this is why it is true when we say: The ANC governs as if black lives dont matter.
As I travel around SA, I see broken roads, broken lights, broken pipes, broken
promises and broken dreams.
If you dont believe me, come with me to eGcuwa (Butterworth) in the Eastern Cape,
where the local government spends millions on officials and politicians rather than on
service delivery to the people.
Here you will see people whose lives have come to a stop. There is no development
and there are no job opportunities.
Come with me to Mogalakwena in Limpopo where you will see a municipality torn
apart by ANC factions at war. Theyre too busy fighting to think about the needs of the
people, and so service delivery has ground to a halt.
Or just go to down to Zandspruit, not far from here, and see for yourself. There you
will see rubbish dumps right next to schools and clinics. You will see raw sewage
running through the streets.
I love the people of Zandspruit that is the ward where I first stood for election as a
councillor. The terrible conditions I saw there is what convinced me to choose a new
political party and to fight for change.
But if you go there at night, you will see nothing, because Zandspruit residents have
no electricity. All they have is a local government that stopped caring about them a
long time ago.
And if you elect the DA to govern your municipality, we will work hard to speed up the
rollout of basic services.
Because basic services the provision of water, sanitation and electricity is the coal
face of local government.
It is the most fundamental job of a municipality. Nothing gives a clearer indication of a
governments commitment than the way it rolls out these crucial services to its people.
And where the DA governs we lead the way in basic service delivery for the poor.
By bringing water, electricity and sanitation to more people than anywhere else, by
keeping communities clean and by fixing potholes faster than anywhere else, the DA
is adding real value to peoples lives.
We repair traffic lights and street lights is just 48 hours. To repair potholes it is just 24
hours!
We spent R3 billion on major road upgrades last year. The cities of Johannesburg,
Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay together didnt even spend one sixth of this
amount.
We fixed more than twice the number of potholes last year than the cities of
Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay put together.
This is what good clean local governance is all about. This is the DA difference.
We want the opportunity to deliver in other places too, but for this to happen we need
to be in government. We need people to vote for us.
If you elect a DA local government on 3 August, we will bring the DA difference to
your city, to your town, and to your community.
My fellow South Africans,
The election on August 3rd is a local government election. But it is also so much more
than that. It is a referendum on the future of our country.
The election is an opportunity to send a message to President Zuma and the ANC
that we are sick and tired of their empty promises.
Its an opportunity to say: We South Africans deserve an honest government. A
government that keeps its promises. A government that is held accountable for its
actions.
This election is a first step towards a new tomorrow for our country. Because the more
votes we get at this election, the more we can change the direction of our country.
Change that stops corruption.
Change that delivers better services.
Change that brings jobs.
But it is up to you, the voters. You have to make that change. Change that moves
South Africa forward again.
This is your power in a democracy: the power to change things. The power to make
things better than they are. The power to hire and fire politicians. You are the boss
not the Guptas!
Lets all use our power this year. Lets fire a government that has stopped caring, and
lets hire the only one that can do the job.
For the sake of our country and our future, lets vote for change in the 2016 Local
Government Election.
Lets build a South Africa for all, a nation that prospers together. Lets honour the
sacrifices of those who paid for our freedoms by building a new tomorrow, a
movement that is non-racial, a movement that will bring the change we need in this
country.
We prosper together.
I love this country and its people, and we must and we will do everything we can to
bring change for jobs, for basic services and to end corruption.
See you on the streets, in the houses, in communities as we march towards the
elections.
I thank you.