10 Days From Historic Change

The following speech was delivered by DA Leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, at a rally in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga yesterday:

Good afternoon, Mpumalanga!

Thank you to our candidates, our activists, and everyone who has come here because you believe this province deserves better.

A province that helps power South Africa should not leave its residents powerless in the face of municipal failure.

In ten days, we can change that.

The excitement is growing. People can feel that change is coming. Never before has the DA been ahead in nearly every major metro, and dozens of other towns across the country. This is a first in democratic South Africa!

Hundreds of thousands of South Africans who have never voted DA before are going to vote for us this time, because they want their town, their city, and their country, to work for everyone.

We are on the cusp of something remarkable happening that is going to change South Africa’s direction for the better.

That should excite us all. It certainly excites me!

It gives me hope. Because it means we can start building the South Africa we all know is possible, but that we’re so far away from right now.

That hope starts on 4 November, and it starts with electing municipalities that work as hard as the people who live in them.

That is what I am asking you to vote for.

Because South Africa can work for everyone.

Friends,
Mpumalanga helps keep South Africa running.

Its power stations supply electricity. Its farms help feed our country and supply markets abroad. Its factories, mines and transport businesses support livelihoods far beyond this province. Its extraordinary natural beauty brings visitors from around the world.

Yet the people who contribute so much are too often expected to make do with so little from their municipalities.

People living near power stations should be able to rely on their municipal electricity network.

Farmers and businesses moving goods should have roads that help them reach their customers.

Families in a province of such possibility should have clean water coming out of the tap.

Just down the N4, across the provincial border in Bronkhorstspruit, Tshwane’s ActionSA and ANC government supplied unchlorinated water for three weeks without warning families that it was unsafe.

A DA government will not abandon its duty to protect your family. We will maintain your infrastructure, tell you the truth and act when your safety is at risk.

Mpumalanga must become a province where opportunity reaches the household, not just passes it by on the N4.

And that begins with getting local government working.

From eMalahleni and Middelburg to Mbombela, from the Highveld to the Lowveld, we need municipalities that make it easier to earn a living.

There is a basic rule that is becoming clearer in South Africa: Where the DA governs, jobs follow.

The one DA governed metro created the same number of new jobs over the last five years as all 7 other metros combined.

418 000 new jobs in one DA run metro!

The same number in 7 other metros run by the ANC and other smaller parties!

That is the difference.
Where the DA governs, jobs come.

Think of what will happen when 5 metros are DA run! We will create more jobs than ever before, for hundreds of thousands more people.

And we can do that here in Mpumalanga too.

That is how we help turn Mpumalanga’s strengths into more opportunities for its people.

Friends,
Whether your home is in a village, a township, a suburb or on a farm, you deserve respect and a government that does its job.

That is the country we love. That is the country we are working to build.

But first, we have to turn our support into votes.

Ten days remain.

Use them.

When you get home today, make your plan for Wednesday, 4 November.

Check your voting station. Decide when you will vote and how you will get there.

Then speak to five people you know.

Ask them to vote DA. Find out whether they have a plan too. Do not assume they will vote just because they are frustrated with the same things you are.

A person who stays at home has left the choice to somebody else.

And this choice will shape the next five years of our lives.

Mpumalanga has helped power this country.

Now let us make sure its people have the power to build a better future at home.

On 4 November, vote for a municipality that works as hard as you do.

Vote DA!

South Africa can work for everyone.

Thank you!