By The Democratic Alliance (DA) is confident going into elections in just five days. This comes after a massive show of support whereby federal supporters showed up in numbers filling the Multi-purpose hall in Phuthaditjhaba, Free State during the final regional rally on Thursday, 23 May 2024.
The party Leader, John Steenhuisen, flanked by the DA’s Premier candidate Dr Roy Jankielsohn addressed the full to capacity hall. Steenhuisen said it is time for change and reminded the people that they have been struggling with services in the area; factories have been shut down under the leadership of the ruling party and should use their democratic right to vote the ANC out of power.
The Federal Leader and MP told The Business Weekly that he is confident going into elections and that these elections are like no other. He said there is no outright conclusion on the outcome of the elections; ‘it’s all bets off’ and he is very optimistic.
“If I look at the way the ANC has declined, I see the way the MK is eating into their support, I think there is now a pathway to victory for the opposition parties to be able to form alternative governments at a national level, but also in places like the Free State here. I am very confident about where we are at on the polls, I am very confident that our campaign messages landed, and I am very hopeful when I see full halls like today where people are coming out to hear the good news message,” said John Steenhuisen.
Steenhuisen alluded to the fact that there is an awaking in people, a realisation that things do not have to continue as is and that people want change. That there can be jobs, there can be good quality public healthcare, schools that actually teach children and an economy that is growing, but people must vote for those things.
The DA Leader says the DA has become the biggest party in urban areas in South Africa; they overtook the ANC at the beginning of last year. The polls show that the ruling party has become a rural party; however, Steenhuisen says though rural communities are harder to access; DA agents have been on the ground and have made some inroads in rural communities.
“I don’t think we would have had a big turn out here in Phuthaditjaba today in this hall had we not been doing the work on the ground here. Obviously we want to take the fight for change to every corner, rural, urban, rich or poor we want to be able to take the message of hope to every one of those communities,” said Steenhuisen.
In order to grow the economy, Steenhuisen says ending load-shedding is the one thing that the party will do, as a country cannot grow its economy without electricity. He says the DA government will open up the electricity sector to the private sector, to independent power producer and to entrepreneurs and young new start-up businesses, break the monopoly and get as much energy into the South African economy.
He said there will be no instance whereby a factory is opened and only to find there is no electricity; no foreign investor will invest where there is no electricity and no business can expand without electricity.
Opposition parties running for the echelon office in the country have made worrying statements that should the DA win the elections and be in power; that would mean the return of apartheid. John Steenhuisen refuted that assertion.
“I don’t think that is true, if you look at our constitution it would make that impossible. But I would just say, don’t listen to what people say, seeing is believing. Look at where the DA is governing in the Western Cape, best access to jobs, best access to basic services, best access to a better future, good public transport; hospitals that heal the sick, schools that teach our children and making sure that we have an economy that grows to create more opportunities for more people.
It is not by accident that we have the best run municipalities in the country, it’s by policies and principles and programs that make sure that we don’t steal the money, we spend the money on the people and not the politicians,” said the DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen.
