by John Steenhuisen
I write to share some by-election and polling results which show that the DA is taking black votes from the ANC, is growing black support, has more black voters than the EFF, and is the only party that can threaten the ANC’s majority.
Several credible polls have our national electoral support firmly in the mid-twenties, showing that the party has not only stabilized, but is growing significantly.
Importantly, a Social Research Foundation poll this year suggests that the DA is now the largest party in urban South Africa, polling at 37% against the ANC’s 33%. As a rapidly urbanizing country, these results point to future growth for the DA, while the ANC retreats to being a rural party.
The survey also revealed the DA to be by far the most diverse political party in the country, with black voters making up the biggest chunk of our support base.
This was borne out by the results of two recent by-elections in predominantly black communities. In ward 33 Enoch Mgijima, a rural Eastern Cape ward, we grew from 8.9% in 2021 to 38.3% in Nov 2022. And in ward 38 in Nyanga, Cape Town, we tripled our support from 3.5% to 12.9%.
Survey results also show the DA has more black voters than the EFF, nationally. All of which makes it clear that the DA is the only party that can threaten the ANC’s monopoly on power.
Please stay the course with the DA. We are working hard to grow our support in every ward in the country, by bringing the DA difference where we govern, and by bringing the DA’s vision of an open, opportunity society for all.
We are the only party with a track record of delivery. Where we govern with an outright majority, services are delivered, infrastructure is maintained, jobs are created, public money is spent on the public as shown by consistent clean audits, and we go beyond our mandate to try step in where national government is failing.
The current electoral environment is ripe for a step change in government. Now is the time to unite financially and electorally behind the DA to seize the opportunity for real change in South Africa, change that is now finally on the horizon.
Unite behind the DA to help build the South African future we all want.
