Issued by John Steenhuisen MP – Leader of the Democratic Alliance
08 Sep 2021 in News
This morning the DA put up its first election posters in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, thereby sending a loud and clear message: We are ready for these elections, and we are ready to bring real change to metros and municipalities destroyed by years of ANC failure.
The message on our posters – and our national slogan for these elections – is simple: “The DA gets things done”. Across all spheres of government this ability to deliver is the only criteria that matters, but it is particularly true at local government level where citizens are immediately and directly impacted by the efficiency or failure of their government. There is no other party in South Africa that can make this claim.
It is also fitting that our first poster is going up right outside the offices of the ANC government that has failed the people of eThekwini. In doing so, we are saying to the residents of this city and the rest of South Africa: This is what your choice comes down to in this election. Look at the difference and then decide what you want for the future of your city.
On the 25th of this month we will be setting out this choice in more detail when we officially launch our election manifesto. This is an opportunity for all South Africans to get to understand our offer in this election, and what we can bring to their town or city in government. We encourage everyone to follow the live-stream of this launch.
Our posters will also serve as a daily reminder that the DA is the only significant party willing and ready to contest these elections. While the ANC, and others, have been desperately trying to get the elections postponed because their internal warfare and their shambolic finances have left them in no position to launch a campaign of any sort, the DA has already put in a year’s work in finalising lists, fine-tuning our messaging and producing our campaign material.
We also have no doubt that the Constitutional Court judgment intended for the elections to take place in seven weeks’ time without bending the rules for the ANC on candidate submissions. Their disastrous preparations and missed deadlines deserve no different treatment to that of the IFP in 2011 and the NFP in 2016. The DA will not allow either the ANC or the IEC – or both of them – to manipulate the rules.
What this means is that dozens more municipalities and metros are now in play, and stand a real chance of ending decades of ANC mismanagement at the ballot box. This could be the catalyst for change in our country, and could ripple all the way through the next national and provincial elections. Our very own South African Spring.
Actions speak louder than words. Given a clear mandate to govern and five uninterrupted years to start ushering in the DA difference, we will demonstrate that there can be no going back to an ANC government. We will demonstrate that only the DA gets things done.
We are ready, we are fired up and we say: Bring it on!
Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.
