Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has called on people to vote for those who they believe will ensure service delivery in their municipalities. It comes as South Africa prepares for Local Government Elections on November 1.
Steenhuisen was addressing the party’s final rally in Mary Fitzgerald, Johannesburg.
“This is a Local Government Election. It means that you are voting for a government that is going to be tasked with the day-to-day running of your town or city. This is about service delivery. It is about infrastructure maintenance. It is about looking after every cent of your money and making sure it is spent well and on the people and not stolen or spent on the politicians. If you can do these things well, your municipality has every chance to succeed, but if you fail to do the basics your municipality will fail and that is guaranteed.”
DA Federal Chairperson Ivan Meyer says that citizens have a responsibility to stop the rot in towns and cities across South Africa by voting for the DA. Meyer was opening the final rally of the party. He says that each and everyone’s vote can make a difference.
“You don’t have to suffer anymore because your municipality fails to fix potholes and your road infrastructure in your town. You don’t have to suffer anymore because the ANC is appointing cadres and corrupt mayors it’s going to stop. You have the power to stop it you not only have the power to stop it you have the responsibility to stop it but you also have a moral obligation to stop the rot in towns and cities across South Africa”
Day Zero
DA Cooperative Governance Shadow Minister Cilliers Brink earlier warned of a day zero in terms of service delivery for the scores of dysfunctional municipalities in South Africa.
Brink has urged voters to avert disaster by voting for the party.
“One day in the near future the lights will go off, and they won’t come back on again; the taps will run dry, and there will be nobody to fix them. The sewage plants will malfunction, and the community will have to look for engineers and technicians to fix the problem for free. No matter how much SAMWU goes on strike, there will be no money to pay salaries and contractors. There will be no national government bailout. But democrats that don’t need to be the end of the story we can write our own story on the 1st of November.”
Cilliers Brink speaking to SABC News at DA’s final rally
Meanwhile, DA Spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube has questioned why the ANC has not informed citizens who will be leading their cities and towns.
“We have fielded excellent candidates in every single ward across the country. We have mayoral candidates that have tabled their plan to change things in our key metros. Unlike the ANC that has no mayoral candidates – that has fielded Mayor Ramaphosa for this election – we don’t know if he is going to be the mayor of East London is he going the mayor of Johannesburg what is happening why is there only one man on a poster? Unlike them we are confident of our people we know who our people are.”
