In a final push for votes ahead of the elections on Wednesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen boldly proclaimed that his party was ready to govern South Africa following three decades of ANC misrule.
Steenhuisen also urged South Africans of all races, ethnic and income groups to give him and his party, a clear mandate to rescue South Africa from poverty, corruption and unemployment delivered by the ruling ANC government over the last 30 years.
On Sunday, Steenhuisen addressed scores of DA supporters gathered at the Willowmoore Stadium in Benoni as part of the party’s “We can Rescue SA” closing rally where the likes of Big Zulu, The Parlotones, Lloyd Cele, Ricus Nel and others entertained a festive sea of blue party supporters.
Unlike the ANC which has for 10 years promised South Africans two million jobs, only the DA under his leadership can deliver quality jobs for all, he said.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa, during his address at the ANC’s Siyanqoba rally at FNB Stadium on Saturday, said his administration will in the next five years, prioritise a six-point jobs plan to ensure jobs for South Africans through the digital economy, the rail economy and infrastructure development.
The DA leader, who has been criticised for the party’s election campaign advert, said only the DA – which has delivered prosperity in the Western Cape and other metros where it governs – has the ability to deliver on the aspirations of South Africans, unlike the ANC which only makes empty promises.
“What you see is the party that delivers thousands of new jobs wherever we govern. We are able to deliver all of these things, because DA people work across the length and breadth of this land to turn South Africa into the country of our dreams,“ he said.
Wednesday’s elections will go down in the annals of history as the most important elections, he said, adding that the ANC will face its biggest upset when it losses its power to the DA.
“On Wednesday, the ANC will lose the outright majority it has abused for decades to subject the people of this country to unemployment, corruption and misrule.
“On Wednesday, we close the ANC chapter of our history. As you are about to vote, look at the pen in your hand and reflect on the fact that, with that pen, you will personally write the next chapter of our country’s history,” he said.
On the National Health Insurance (NHI), Steenhuisen said this was just another electioneering trick aimed at scoring votes from unsuspecting South Africans; it will not solve the country’s problems.
“We don’t wait for elections to try to manipulate you with desperate stunts like the NHI. This scheme will not solve the ANC corruption and mismanagement that has destroyed public health care.
“Instead, it will expropriate medical aid from the millions of South Africans who – despite the misrule of the ANC – have worked hard to make it into the middle class since 1994,“ he said.
The Star