Steenhuisen vows to snatch Joburg from governing party

The official opposition party caused a massive upset in the 2016 local government elections when it walked away with 93 seats in Tshwane, beating the governing ANC, which only managed 89 seats. 

Steenhuisen threatened to cause another upset in neighbouring Johannesburg during the upcoming November 1 polls. 

The party held its final election rally at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg where Steenhuisen addressed around 2000 supporters.

The DA leader didn’t shy away from claiming an early victory. 

“Welcome, and thank you for coming out here today to Mary Fitzgerald Square in beautiful soon-to-be DA-run Johannesburg for the DA’s ‘Get Things Done’ rally - our final national rally before we go to the polls to vote next Monday. 

“We still have just over a week left to reach even more people and persuade them to put their trust in the only party that has shown it has what it takes to save our towns and cities,” he said.

Steenhuisen used the opportunity to drive home what he believes to be the ANC’s failures.

“Forget about all the brand new parties that spring up before every single election like a field of overnight mushrooms, and then fade away just as quickly afterwards. Forget about all the small parties that just don’t have the numbers to properly represent you, and certainly don’t have the numbers to keep the ANC or EFF out. 

“And forget about gimmicks like independent candidates who don’t stand for any particular values, policies or manifesto offers and cannot be held to account on any of these things once the votes are cast. Vote smart. Vote with your head,” Steenhuisen added. 

He vowed efficient governance across all DA-led municipalities. 

“We have already been fighting for several years to allow municipalities to procure their own electricity directly from independent power producers, and we have a pilot programme underway in six Western Cape municipalities preparing for this scenario. 

“When this pilot programme has been completed, we plan to roll it out to other DA-run municipalities too. 

Steenhuisen also vowed to root out corruption and to deploy the best candidates for the job. 

“If we want to save these places, we have to be honest about what is wrong with them. We have to find a common thread that runs through all these failing towns and cities - a thread that we can identify as being responsible for this decay. 

“And when we find that common thread, we need to loosen it and pull it out or else the decay will become so bad that we may never fix it.”

“The one thing that all these broken towns and cities share is an ANC local government.”

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