DA promises to bring development to Tshwane
The Democratic Alliance intends to bring progress to Tshwane by attracting investment, creating jobs and fighting drug addiction, said mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga.
|||Tshwane – The Democratic Alliance intends to bring progress to Tshwane by attracting investment, creating jobs and fighting drug addiction, said the party’s mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga on Tuesday at Freedom Park.
Msimanga, who lead the DA to victory in the capital in last week’s local government elections, appeared emotional as he addressed supporters, saying he felt that the people had spoken and that it was not for him to boast.
However, the party’s Gauteng leader John Moodey said the result showed that the African National Congress had failed itself and was harshly judged by voters.
“Winning Tshwane means more work for us. We don’t want people to just sit and relax and say now that we have won we will rule until Jesus comes,” said Moodey.
Msimanga said the DA would attract more investment into the metro to grow the capital city.
“If the capital city can’t work, South Africa can’t work… The capital city needs to move out of the economic slump that we find ourselves in, we need to attract investments into the capital city,” he said.
He said the party planned to address the legacy of apartheid by delivering to all.
“The only way to break the backbone of apartheid is to bring service delivery to all the people. We don’t want to talk about it, we want to do it.”
The DA obtained 43.15 percent of the vote and 93 seats compared to the ANC’s 41.22 percent and 89 seats.
The party did not win an outright majority and must now form a coalition in order to run the metro.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane told the crowd that they were still in the exploratory stage of coalition talks with other parties. He sought to assure them that the party would not compromise its values and would only enter into coalition with parties that its vision.
“If you agree with us that we must deliver for poor people, if you agree with us that we can’t stand for corruption, if you agree with us that we must be a non-racial movement, if you agree with us that we can’t hire bo chomi (friends) in the municipality, if you agree that South Africa is for blacks, coloured, Indians anf whites, I’m writing to you so that you can come and we govern.”
“If you don’t agree with us, we won’t compromise because we are not desperate to govern. We want to be a party that benefits the people,” he said
Maimane told suppoters that the DA did not intend to govern with the ANC because it was a corrupt party that divided South Africans on the basis of race.
The parties have 14 days after the announcement of the election results last Saturday to form executive councils in cities.
African News Agency (ANA)